Working Life

   For those of you who might remember the days of the Carter Administration when the U.S. embassy workers in Teheran were held under lock and key for a very long time–"Nightline" got its ratings boost, and made its name, from the nightly graphic trumpeting how many days America had been "held hostage". Well, we […]

Read the full story

   Some random notes on the debate over reforming the financial system. The Brits continue to lead the charge on the bank tax–perhaps driven by the fast-approaching elections in which, if you believe the polls, the ruling Labor Party is going to lose its governing majority…perhaps a harbinger of things to come here. So, Gordon […]

Read the full story

   I will continue to post and argue, until proven otherwise, that there is no recovery–that it is a myth. I am an optimist by nature but I also believe in dealing with actual reality (I know, that is so 1960s). Here is why I love Paul Krugman: But there’s an even bigger problem: while […]

Read the full story

   The obsession with the value of the dollar is kind of goofy. More than three years ago, not for the first time, I suggested that it would actually be a good thing if the value of the dollar declined significantly, particularly as it relates to the trade relationship with China. People in political circles […]

Read the full story

   This guy–Allan H. Meltzer, a political economist at Carnegie Mellon University–is seriously delusional: Mr. Meltzer says the risk lies not in pulling back too soon but dithering too long. And he would scrap the stimulus program immediately and replace it with cuts in marginal tax rates for individuals and businesses. "It’s certainly not a […]

Read the full story

   I remember quite clearly a very honest discussion I had with a Member of Congress at an event about six months before the 2008 mid-term elections. I’ve known this person for a few years and I remarked that it looked like the Democratic Party was poised to make significant gains in the House in […]

Read the full story

   i’ve never liked the nonsense about the importance of the political "center". As I see it, that has basically been a cop-out–a fear of confronting the people who want to continue to rip-off the workers of the country by promoting the notion that the "center" requires that taxes be low (meaning, taxes on the […]

Read the full story

   Paul Krugman makes a point today in his column that I, and others, have made before: Meanwhile, a Washington Post report based on administration sources says that Mr. Geithner and Lawrence Summers, President Obama’s top economic adviser, “think governments make poor bank managers” — as opposed, presumably, to the private-sector geniuses who managed to […]

Read the full story

    This morning, Sen. Obama is scheduled to give a major address on the economy. Yours truly is scheduled to appear on CNBC’s "Power Lunch" (hey, I didn’t come up with the name) at 1:20 p.m. (Eastern Time). I may not have a chance to post the entire speech here before the CNBC gig but […]

Read the full story

    Yesterday, I observed the bizarre proposal by Sen. Clinton to hand over fixing the economic mess we’re in to the very people who helped create the mess (well, actually, for most workers we’ve been in an economic mess for a very long time–but you’all know that). I wasn’t trying to pick on Sen. Clinton […]

Read the full story