economics

In which we consider a plan to kill the gasoline car.

There is an 800 pound gorilla in our economic room and everyone acts like he doesn't exist. Everyone is worried about a recession, but that is just a bump in the road compared to the real problem with our economy. There is a much worse problem in our near future. Bush’s "shop till you drop" policy and the republicans lackadaisical attitude about borrowing money from our grandkids and foreign countries has exacerbated a problem that has been festering since the 1950's. Our country is now in grave peril. Plainly stated: we as a nation, are going bankrupt. We are spiraling downward to become a 3rd world country within the next 40 years and our politicians are to scared to talk about it.

In which we have more fun spending $2.4 trillion than they did.

In which we try to spend $44 billion...or will it be $56 billion?

In which we don't just complain about a problem..we look for solutions.

It’s time that you and I had a little talk, my dear reader, about a subject your Mom and Dad never really explained that well. It’s gotten to a point where it is affecting your daily life, and you probably don’t even know why.

They didn’t cover it well in school, either, and if they had it likely would have just been one of those things you make jokes about later in the locker room.

That’s right…it’s time we discussed bond insurance, collateralized debt obligations…and how all of this is hitting you right in the wallet—and some comments about what’s coming next.

In other words, complicated economics, simply explained.

Cross posted (stolen) from Progressive Pulse

A new report from the Center for Economic Policy Research indicates that working and middle class families are continuing to hurt by the economy. This is the result of Republican efforts to serve the extreme rich at the expense of ordinary Americans.

The new report, "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Job Quality in the United States over the Three Most Recent Business Cycles" finds that

The US economy has created fewer good jobs in the 2000's than was the case over comparable periods in the 1980's and 1990's. The report analyzed annual data from the March Current Population Survey for the years 1979 through 2006 and shows that while the current business cycle has seen an increase in the share of jobs that pay at least $17 an hour, this gain has been more than offset by a decrease in the share of jobs that offer employer-provided health insurance (down 3.1 percent points) and pension coverage (down 4.9 percentage points).

Republicans will try to tell you that the American economy is not in trouble. And indeed, multinational corporations and the extreme rich aren't hurting a bit. But for the average American it's a different story . . .

Crossposted from Left Toon Lane, Bilerico Project & My Left Wing


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Let’s begin today’s discussion with a quick thought experiment.

What is the single most important thing necessary to ensure the survival of the State of Louisiana?

Improved government administration?
More and better levees?
The success of the “Road Home” project?

I submit it is none of these.

The single most important factor determining the future of the State of Louisiana is mud.

That’s right, mud.

There have been many stories told, and there will be many stories to tell, of how New Orleans and the communities to the southeast struggle to recover from the hurricanes of 2005.

Before I began researching this story, I assumed that pattern would be the same across the entire Louisiana Gulf Coast.

But I was wrong.