The complaints are starting on the new Obama administration. Some are concerned that he filled his administration with former Clinton hands, reflecting the old school (if more competent), not the change we need. “What worries me is there is not one person in the senior group who is the outsider to this club,” cautioned Robert [...]
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Today’s unemployment data contain gloomy news. Gloomy, but expected. The interpretation of the data is even worse. First, the data. Unemployment rose to 10.2 percent last month, breaking the double digit barrier. Most people expected it to happen, though the job loss (190,000) was a bit worse than most economic forecasts (175,000). We can maybe [...]
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Obama has introduced his budget, and people are hyperventilating about the deficit. Piling “debt on the backs of our kids and our grandkids,” declares House minority leader John Boehner (R-Ohio). “Bloated,” exclaims Democrat Evan Bayh of Nebraska. With all the hyperventilating, we are forgetting what’s most important. Deficits aren’t necessarily bad. Sometimes deficits can be [...]
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Two things happened yesterday. First, I published this major post about the role prisons play in the U.S. economy. Later yesterday evening, the Bureau of Justice Statistics released new data about people in prison. Any surprise? The number continued to rise. Yes, crime continues to decline; and yes, “soft on crime” was absent from this [...]
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China has opened a new subway system every y
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Previous posts and our report have discussed how America is falling apart. Collapsing bridges, high unemployment, and so forth. In this post I discuss how we are falling behind. China recently announced an economic stimulus package worth $586 billion, roughly 7% of its gross domestic product and the largest in its history. The Washington Post [...]
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Everybody is saying the same thing. Stimulus plans don’t mean tax rebates worth a few tanks of gas and a restaurant dinner. Stimulus plans means new roads and bridges, aid to states so they won’t lay off nurses and teaching assistants, and a down payment on a new energy economy with windmills and commuter rail. [...]
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Within hours of Barack Obama’s election, naysayers chastened caution. Don’t go too far, they inveighed. Build trust slowly with restrained, moderate, and gradual actions, they admonished. In other words: Start with piddling plans. Basically, they want to abort hope — kill it before it has a chance. That is all wrong after an election in [...]
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Almost overlooked in this morning’s extraordinary headlines about government intervention to protect the nation’s financial system from collapse was the failure of the House of Representatives on Thursday to act on a $50 billion stimulus package for the rest of us. The legislation would have included $20 billion or so for infrastructure projects, plus additional [...]
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Last year on August 1, the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis collapsed during rush hour. Thirteen people died and more than 100 were wounded. A school bus carrying 52 children teetered on the brink but did not fall. This bridge is not alone. Our nation’s infrastructure is deteriorating, dying of old age and neglect. Making Sense [...]
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