“The alternative to a huge fiscal stimulus is simple: enough pro-active fiscal policy to ensure that cuts in state and local spending do not bring additional contractionary pressure to bear on the economy. Otherwise bear the costs of the ongoing sectoral shifts and allow consumption to decline as indeed it must sooner or later. Aggregate […]
Archive for December, 2008
Dec25th2008
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Dec22nd2008
“Now, I know the comparison between Palin and Caroline Kennedy is not perfect. Each has strengths where the other has weaknesses, and the jobs of senator and vice president aren’t identical (the former actually has more responsibility, for starters). But the comparison is nonetheless revealing. Palin’s selection triggered troughs of bile, vomited up from nearly […]
Dec19th2008
“Detroit needed to do a lot of things in the 1970s. It needed to get better engineering, it needed to get control of its assembly process, and yes, it needed to lower labor costs. But it did none of these things. By the early 1990s, Detroit wasn’t even trying very hard to make a profit […]
Dec16th2008
“…zero interest rate policy. And it has arrived. America has turned Japanese. This is the thing I’ve been afraid of ever since I realized that Japan really was in the dreaded, possibly mythical liquidity trap…Seriously, we are in very deep trouble. Getting out of this will require a lot of creativity, and maybe some luck […]
Dec15th2008
“There is absolutely no way whatsoever that GM has any hope of profitably making a car with labor costs higher than their competitors. Their labor costs should be lower than their competitors, because they have to sell their cars at a steep discount. Even if we somehow magically revolutionize the management tomorrow and get them […]
Dec12th2008
“What are the auto workers being asked to do? Set a date for accepting wages comparable to those paid at other auto plants in America. Now, we can argue about how much of a role labor costs play in the Big Three’s problems. But I think most people should be able to agree that a […]
Dec12th2008
“What needs to be done is to help the automakers get a fresh start and allow them to focus on producing good cars rather than trying to juggle their books to meet past obligations. The US car industry will not be shut down, but it does need to be restructured. That is what Chapter 11 […]
Dec11th2008
“When gas prices were high, a lot of people blamed Detroit’s troubles on the fact that they hadn’t learned to make awesome small cars. But Toyota isn’t so successful in the US because of the Yaris and the Corolla; its core business, like Honda’s, is American-sized sedans, station wagons, luxury cars, and so on. […]
Dec10th2008
“The old GM slogan of “a car for every purpose, a car for every pocketbook” can’t work any more. Back in the 1920s, or even the 1960s, making cars was itself a specialization. Cars were made in Detroit, carpets were made in Georgia, and the two would trade with each other. But now there are […]
Dec9th2008
Quote Of The Day
Published by in Chicanoism, Discrimination, Economics and Hispanics (Minority Issues). 0 Comments“Neither legal nor market forces have brought employment parity between whites and blacks in the United States. Parallel with the struggle of blacks for parity, Jews, East Asians, and immigrants generally, have made rapid economic progress and indeed (at least in the case of Jews and East Asians) largely overcome discrimination, yet without significant help […]
Dec8th2008
What Capitalism Is Doing To India
Published by in Capitalism, Discrimination and Economics. 2 CommentsA great article in the New York Times, see here.
A couple of snippets:
Mr. Prasad was born into the Pasi community, once considered untouchable on the ancient Hindu caste order. Today, a chain-smoking, irrepressible didact, he is the rare outcaste columnist in the English language press and a professional provocateur. His latest crusade is to argue […]
Dec6th2008
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The Obama presidency is already sending a message.
Dec5th2008
It is still too early to tell but Allen C. Guelzo, the Henry R. Luce Professor of Civil War Era Studies at Gettysburg College, Pa. lists what he thinks are The Five Best Things He Ever Did.
Dec4th2008
“Democrats also have to get serious about school choice. The unions oppose it because they don’t want one student or one dollar to leave the regular public schools, where their members teach. So the Democrats have been timid and weak in putting choice to productive use — even though their constituents are the ones trapped […]
Dec3rd2008
“Democrats favor educational “change” — as long as it doesn’t affect anyone’s job, reallocate resources, or otherwise threaten the occupational interests of the adults running the system. Most changes of real consequence are therefore off the table. The party specializes instead in proposals that involve spending more money and hiring more teachers — such as […]
