America's Economic Future – A Discussion By Ted Kavadas
In the Wall Street Journal on Saturday, February 13 there was an editorial titled “High-Speed Spending.” This discussed the dubious financial dynamics of a long-proposed “high speed” Orlando-to-Tampa rail project. I also heard of a proposal to do a similar project between St. Louis and Chicago. I have lived in the Chicago area for most …
On February 10th an editorial by Scott S. Powell appeared in Investor’s Business Daily titled “Greece’s Crisis: A Warning To Profligate U.S.?” The link can be found here. I am highlighting this editorial as it discusses many important issues, most of which I have previously mentioned on this blog. As well, it compares our current …
On Saturday The Wall Street Journal had an editorial titled “Escape from Taxation.” The link is here. In the editorial, it is mentioned that higher-income people are moving out of New Jersey as the tax rate is increased. In my article “America’s Trojan Horse” found at this link, I discussed the widely-held fallacy that debt …
One aspect of our current period of economic weakness that lacks broad recognition is the impact on society. There are many different aspects of this societal impact, some of which I have already discussed on this blog. Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal, page A3 had stories that serve as examples of this societal impact of economic …
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was on “This Week” on Sunday and made various comments. Here is the link: http://abcnews.go.com/ThisWeek/week-transcript-treasury-secretary-timothy-geithner/story?id=9758951 I could make a lot of comments regarding this interview. However, I would like to focus on this one exchange: TAPPER: The Congress just voted to raise the debt ceiling to more than $14 trillion dollars. …
Two measures of economic activity that I closely follow have been weak over the recent past months. This is notable, as they did enjoy a significant “boost” over the mid-2009 timeframe. These two measures have proven to be excellent indicators in the past. They would be considered “coincident” in nature. I view the weakness of …
Here are two charts from the Minneapolis Fed site: http://www.minneapolisfed.org/publications_papers/studies/recession_perspective/index.cfm They show, from a historical context, how declines in employment and output during this period of economic weakness (which FRB Minneapolis refers to as a recession) compare to those of previous recessions. First, the employment chart. Here are two notes regarding this chart: 1. Employment …
With the recent unveiling of the proposed FY2011 budget, I would like to make a few comments with regard to budget deficits and federal expenditures. Here is a historical chart of federal expenditures. This chart is from the St. Louis Federal Reserve website. This chart helps one put rising government expenditures in a historical context: …
Over the last few years the political scene has become more volatile, swinging from heavily Republican to heavily Democratic. Now, it appears as if the political volatility is increasing yet again, with the recent election of Scott Brown and the unexpected hurdles Ben Bernanke is facing during his reconfirmation. Many incumbents (and political appointees) who until recently seemed …
Here is a link to the latest (December 29) press release of The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence readings: http://www.conference-board.org/economics/ConsumerConfidence.cfm I found the large difference between the Expectations Index and Present Situation Index to be notable. The Expectations Index, at 75.6, was the highest in two years. However, the Present Situation Index fell to 18.8 and remains at a 26-year …