Category Archives: Economy

Can Democrats Govern?

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Murders in Chicago and the bankruptcy of Detroit raise uncomfortable questions for Democrats who have held power in these cities for decades. [Credit: Progress Illinois]

Mur­ders in Chica­go and the bank­rupt­cy of Detroit raise uncom­fort­able ques­tions for Democ­rats who have held pow­er in these cities for decades. [Cred­it: Progress Illinois]

Rahm Emanuel pre­sides over a shoot­ing gallery. Con­tin­ue read­ing →

How’s That Cyprus “Bail-In” Working Out?

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The Cyprus "bail-in" is no more popular today than when it was hatched last spring. [Credit: CNNMoney.com]

The Cyprus “bail-in” is no more pop­u­lar today than when it was hatched last spring. [Cred­it: CNNMoney.com]

You may remem­ber Cyprus, the Mediter­ranean island that grabbed inter­na­tion­al head­lines last March when its gov­ern­ment was com­pelled by Euro­pean author­i­ties to seize mon­ey that indi­vid­u­als and busi­ness­es had deposit­ed in the country’s two largest banks.

The “bail-in” of Cypri­ot banks, so called because it requires peo­ple who have deposit­ed their mon­ey in fail­ing banks to help save those banks by for­feit­ing some of their deposits, is a por­tent of bank res­cues to come.  Con­tin­ue read­ing →

The Fed, the ECB and La Dolce Vita

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Fellini celebrated "La Dolce Vita" in his film classic. Today, Italians may feel as though they're living in a Fellini flick. [Credit: theworld.org]

Felli­ni cel­e­brat­ed “La Dolce Vita” in his film clas­sic.  But a strug­gling econ­o­my, wob­bly banks and frac­tious pol­i­tics threat­en to take the “dolce” out of their vita. [Cred­it: theworld.org]

Stran­gozzi is the char­ac­ter­is­tic pas­ta of Umbria, Tuscany’s hot sister.

Con­tin­ue read­ing →

Immigration Reform: Will It Boost The Economy Or Hurt It?

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Supporters of immigration reform say it will spur growth and raise living standards. Opponents disagree. Who's right? [Credit: ABCNews.go.com]

Sup­port­ers of immi­gra­tion reform say it will spur growth and raise liv­ing stan­dards. Oppo­nents dis­agree. Who’s right? [Cred­it: ABCNews.go.com]

“Immi­gra­tion Reform Would Boost Econ­o­my, CBO Report Finds,” ABC News report­ed last week.

Not exact­ly.

Con­tin­ue read­ing →

The Next Bailout: Seizing Investments for “Public Use?”

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The government seized Susette Kelo's house for "economic development." Will the next bailout involve government seizure of private property? [Credit: money.cnn.com]

The gov­ern­ment seized the land on which Susette Kelo’s house once stood.  Will the next bailout involve gov­ern­ment seizure of pri­vate invest­ments for “pub­lic use?” [Cred­it: money.cnn.com]

Thought you’d heard the last of gov­ern­ment bailouts? Think again. The Fed­er­al Reserve Bank of New York, which played a cen­tral role in the leg­endary bailouts of 2008 and beyond, has pub­lished a piece call­ing on fed­er­al, state and local gov­ern­ments to join forces in what could be the most far-reach­ing bailout of all time. And here’s the kick­er: it is all ben­e­fit and no cost. No, real­ly. Con­tin­ue read­ing →

Blu-Ray, Netflix and Our Troubled Economy

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Sony prevailed over Toshiba in the shoot-out over high-def DVDs. [Credit: originalprop.com]

Sony pre­vailed over Toshi­ba in the shoot-out over high-def DVDs. [Cred­it: originalprop.com]

Why can’t you stream your favorite movie on Net­flix? And what does that have to do with a scle­rot­ic economy?

Econ­o­mist and invest­ment strate­gist Jef­frey Snider offers an intrigu­ing expla­na­tion. Con­tin­ue read­ing →

Italian Lesson: What the President and Speaker Can Learn about Power from Giulio Andreotti

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Giulio Andreotti (credit: Corriere della Sera)

Giulio Andreot­ti (cred­it: Cor­riere del­la Sera)

“Pow­er only bur­dens those who don’t pos­sess it.”

– Giulio Andreot­ti, for­mer Ital­ian Prime Minister

What would Giulio Andreot­ti make of John Boehn­er and Barack Oba­ma? Con­tin­ue read­ing →

America’s Shrinking Workforce

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Unemployment officeAmer­i­ca had a bad week. We once again were remind­ed that ter­ror­ism rep­re­sents a con­tin­u­ing threat, that indi­vid­u­als poi­soned by hate­ful ide­ol­o­gy can inflict great harm. We were also remind­ed that we are capa­ble of respond­ing to these bru­tal acts, as Pres­i­dent Oba­ma said, “Self­less­ly. Com­pas­sion­ate­ly. And unafraid.”

Ter­ror­ism presents a chal­lenge to which we’ve yet to for­mu­late a durable response. We remain vul­ner­a­ble, despite the government’s con­tin­ued efforts to keep us safe.

There is anoth­er prob­lem, less hor­rif­ic in its imme­di­ate effects but no less intractable, that also is get­ting the bet­ter of us: the prob­lem of job­less­ness. Con­tin­ue read­ing →

Joe Biden and the Meaning of Compassion

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VP lives rent-free in this 9,000 square foot house....and gives little to charity (Photo credit: White House Museum)

VP lives rent-free in this 9,000 square foot house.…and gives lit­tle to char­i­ty (Pho­to cred­it: White House Museum)

I don’t want to pick on Joe Biden.

He seems a decent enough guy, and if he some­times says odd things (like “we to have spend mon­ey to keep from going bank­rupt”), his mus­ings are at least authen­tic expres­sions of his some­times con­fused state of mind.  He is not a pho­ny. Con­tin­ue read­ing →

David Stockman sez we’re all gonna die! He’s wrong. Right?

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Showtime's Savanarola from The Borgias

Show­time’s Sava­naro­la from The Borgias

Sea­son 3 of The Bor­gias pre­mieres on Show­time this Sun­day . For those not yet ensnared in this addic­tion, the series tells the sto­ry of Renais­sance Pope Alexan­der VI, one of the papacy’s most dev­il­ish­ly inter­est­ing char­ac­ters. Show­time takes the usu­al Hol­ly­wood lib­er­ties with his­to­ry, though Alexan­der, born in Spain as Rodri­go de Bor­gia, led a life that needs no embell­ish­ing. Con­tin­ue read­ing →