Analysis Topic: Economic Trends Analysis
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Tuesday, March 09, 2010
The Scandinavian Socialist Welfare Myth Revisited / Economics / Economic Theory
By: MISES
Obama seems hell-bent on expanding the US welfare state at any cost, and of course no welfare-state debate is complete without bringing up the Scandinavian countries as the perfect example of massive statism bringing prosperity. This seems to be a real conundrum, even for Austrians and other libertarians. Being a citizen of Sweden myself, I am often asked to give an explanation of these "bumblebee economies" that aren't supposed to be able to fly but still do.
Tuesday, March 09, 2010
China's Economic Challenge / Economics / China Economy
By: STRATFOR
China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) remains in session. As usual, the meeting has provided Beijing an opportunity to highlight the past year’s successes and lay out the problems that lie ahead. On the surface at least, China has shown remarkable resilience in the face of global economic crisis. It has posted enviable gross domestic product (GDP) growth rates while keeping factories running (if at a loss) and workers employed.
Monday, March 08, 2010
Trade Deficits and Fiat Currencies / Economics / Fiat Currency
By: Robert_Murphy
There is a connection between fiat currencies and trade deficits, and many cynics have argued that the US dollar's status as global reserve currency allowed Americans to consume more than they produced for decades. However, this "deficit without tears" argument is sometimes overstated. To gain a deeper understanding of both monetary theory and international trade, it's useful to probe the issue more carefully.
Monday, March 08, 2010
The Global Debt Crisis / Economics / Global Debt Crisis
By: Marius_Gustavson
With all the attention being focused on whether or not there will be a sustainable recovery in 2010, the potential for a wave of sovereign-debt crises following the wake of the global recession has just recently started to appear on people's radar screens. Yet, such a wave should not be surprising.
Monday, March 08, 2010
1.7 Million Reasons Why the Economic Recovery is a Joke / Economics / Economic Recovery
By: Graham_Summers
My apologies for dropping off the map last week. I had quite a bit going with the back-end of my business. On that note, I’m going to making a few major announcements in the next week, so stay tuned.
Now, let’s move onto the economy, then the markets.
Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, March 08, 2010
Sensible People See Through Keynesian Economics, But Not Economists / Economics / Elliott Wave Theory
By: Gary_North
Four images provide the conceptual tools to refute Keynesian economics: the gun, the wallet, the IOU, and the printing press. Recall them every time you read a Keynesian promotion of the latest government-spending plan. Let me explain.
Sunday, March 07, 2010
The FED Won't Deflate or Even Seriously Disinflate / Economics / Inflation
By: Michael_S_Rozeff
The FED, in my opinion, is a price taker in the security markets. While its control over the interest rate in the inter-bank market for reserves (Federal Funds) may be very large in the short run, it cannot and does not control interest rates in other markets, such as Treasury bills. These rates and yields are linked to world markets that are too large for the FED to control.
Saturday, March 06, 2010
Too Much Hope and Audacity, Obama’s Budget is Worse than You Thought / Economics / Government Spending
By: Q1_Publishing
Forget the current estimates, the deficits are going to be much, much worse.
Just a few days after Senator Jim Bunning was labeled a “lunatic” for trying to enforce the recently enact Pay-As-You-Go laws, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) releasted its analysis of the Obama Administration’s federal budget proposal.
Saturday, March 06, 2010
Sovereign Debt and the Economic Crisis, When Countries are Bankrupt... / Economics / Global Debt Crisis
By: Bob_Chapman
Sovereign debt hangs like an albatross around the necks of too many countries. There are 17 medium-size to large countries that are close to, or are bankrupt. Many are being kept solvent by using two sets of books and by marking to model. As you know we expect these bankruptcies to take place by the end of 2011. That will be accomplished at meetings such as we saw in the 1970s at the Smithsonian, the Plaza Accord of 1985 and the Louvre Accord of 1987. There will be a realignment of currencies.
Saturday, March 06, 2010
The Bubble That Broke the World / Economics / Economic Theory
By: MISES
Jonathan M. Finegold Catalan writes: With the United States and much of Europe buried in public debt, many wonder how world governments will solve their impending budgetary crises. The economics profession has split into two camps: those who promote more spending; and their opponents, the "deficit hawks." The spenders have been the more vocal, largely due to their dominance in mainstream academia.
Saturday, March 06, 2010
Krugman Fails to "Get It" on Japan / Economics / Economic Theory
By: William_Anderson
One of my pet peeves with Paul Krugman is his constant rewriting of history, a rewriting that just happens to coincide with left-wing political talking points. For example, we hear that the Great Depression occurred because Herbert Hoover was a staunch believer in laissez-faire and took the advice of Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon, who called for liquidation of bad assets to "purge" the economy of whatever was "rotten" in the system.
Saturday, March 06, 2010
The Inflationist View of History / Economics / Inflation
By: MISES
A very popular doctrine maintains that progressive lowering of the monetary unit's purchasing power played a decisive role in historical evolution. It is asserted that mankind would not have reached its present state of well-being if the supply of money had not increased to a greater extent than the demand for money. The resulting fall in purchasing power, it is said, was a necessary condition of economic progress. The intensification of the division of labor and the continuous growth of capital accumulation, which have centupled the productivity of labor, could ensue only in a world of progressive price rises.
Friday, March 05, 2010
U.S. Jobs Contract by 36,000; Unemployment Rate Steady at 9.7% / Economics / Employment
By: Mike_Shedlock
Today the BLS reported 36,000 job losses with the unemployment rate holding at 9.7%. Before diving into the numbers let's analyze the snow job ahead of the report.
Speaking before Congress, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke harped about snow, warning policymakers will "to be careful about not overinterpreting" the upcoming data." In the wake of that warning, economists busily upped their projections for job losses in February, some by as much as 220,000 jobs.
Friday, March 05, 2010
We Need Bigger Budget Deficits Or We're Toast / Economics / Government Spending
By: Mike_Whitney
Barack Obama must choose between high unemployment or large fiscal deficits. It's one or the other. If he chooses to increase government spending and provide a second round of stimulus; unemployment will fall, the output gap will narrow, business confidence will strengthen, and the economy will continue on the path of recovery. If he refuses to provide more stimulus; unemployment will hover around 10 percent, credit will continue to contract, confidence will flag, and the economy will underperform for years to come.
Friday, March 05, 2010
An Economic Storm is Brewing / Economics / Inflation
By: John_Townsend
When the tech bubble burst in 2000, Greenspan tried to “fix” the problem by cutting rates and printing money. Fix the problem he did … well sort of! What Greenspan did was create two new bubbles in the credit and real estate markets to replace the tech bubble that had burst. Millions of jobs were created in these two industries. Much needed jobs to replace the ones lost as the tech boom came to an end.
Thursday, March 04, 2010
Economic Recession, Depression, or Systematic Breakdown / Economics / Recession 2008 - 2010
By: James_Quinn
As crooked politicians, Federal Reserve hacks, and cheerleading media pundits inform you the recession is over, you probably have a sneaking suspicion they are lying.
The National Bureau of Economic Research is the arbiter of business cycle recessions. They define a recession as “a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in real GDP, real income, employment, industrial production.”
Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, March 04, 2010
The Debt Default Dominos / Economics / Global Debt Crisis
By: John_Browne
The bad news for Greece is that despite some help from abroad, and some attempts at internal reform, investors are still leery of the troubled state. The good news, if you can call it that, is that they will soon have company in the penalty box.
Thursday, March 04, 2010
Sovereign Debt Crisis, Transferring Risk From Private Banks to Governments / Economics / Global Debt Crisis
By: Washingtons_Blog
No Wonder the Economy Is not Improving
I've read countless news headlines recently about how economists are "surprised" over an "unexpectedly bad" economic indicator.
Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, March 04, 2010
Is Anyone Else Sick of this Nascent Economic Recovery Talk? / Economics / Economic Recovery
By: Mike_Shedlock
The buzzword of the day is "nascent". It means "beginning to exist or develop". The word is everywhere you look.
Moreover, talk of "nascency" seems like it has been going on forever. Perhaps because it has. Here are some prime examples.
Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, March 03, 2010
IMF Recommends Doubling Inflation Targets! / Economics / Inflation
By: Claus_Vogt
I grew up in Germany, a country that went through hyperinflation twice during the 20th Century. Maybe that’s the reason I learned inflation is bad and inflationary policies are diabolic.
Inflationary periods are highly unjust. They undermine the ethics of hard work and thrift. They destroy solidarity, lead to widespread hardship and often to social unrest.
Read full article... Read full article...