Analysis Topic: Economic Trends Analysis
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Can Asset-Price Bubbles Be Harmless? / Economics / Economic Theory
By: Frank_Shostak
There is an increasing concern among some commentators that the current, extremely loose monetary policy of the US central bank could fuel another round of asset-price bubbles. This in turn, it is held, could pose a serious danger to the US economy.
Some commentators, such as John Taylor (the inventor of the Taylor rule), are urging the US central-bank policy makers to start considering a tighter stance as soon as possible, in order to prevent a repetition of the Greenspan Fed's interest-rate policy, which kept rates at very low levels for too long. (The Fed lowered its policy rate from 6.5% in December 2000 to 1% by June 2003. The Fed kept the rate at 1% until June 2004).
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Tuesday, November 24, 2009
The Great Depression of the 14th Century / Economics / Economic Depression
By: Murray_N_Rothbard
Most people — historians not excepted — are tempted to think of economic and cultural progress as being continuous: in every century people are better off than in the one preceding. This comforting assumption had to be given up quite early when the Dark Ages ensued after the collapse of the Roman Empire. But it was generally held that after the "renaissance" of the 11th century, progress in western Europe was pretty well linear and continuous from that point to the present day.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
The Economic Crisis and What Must be Done / Economics / Recession 2008 - 2010
By: Richard_C_Cook
The United States does not control its own destiny. Rather it is controlled by an international financial elite, of which the American branch works out of big New York banks like J.P. Morgan Chase, Wall Street investment firms such as Goldman Sachs, and the Federal Reserve System. They in turn control the White House, Congress, the military, the mass media, the intelligence agencies, both political parties, the universities, etc. No one can rise to the top in any of these institutions without the elite’s stamp of approval.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Economic Meltdown, A Call for Systemic Change / Economics / Economic Theory
By: Submissions
John Perkins writes: Whenever I hold my two-year old grandson, Grant, in my arms I wonder what this world will look like six decades from now, when he is my age. I know that if we "stay the course" it will be ugly. The current economic meltdown is a harbinger.
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Monday, November 23, 2009
U.S. Stages Fake Coup to Wipe Out National Debt / Economics / US Debt
By: Submissions
Congress says that with no way to actually pay back our debts, faking a coup to eliminate financial obligations is the best plan for the U.S. economy.
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Sunday, November 22, 2009
Ask India About Inflation / Economics / Inflation
By: Andrew_Abraham
Let’s put things into perspective India has one of the largest populations in the world as well it is one of the strongest markets this year. The economy is booming. There are new constructions starts, corporate earnings have been going through the roof as well as the Rupee has gained in value against the US dollar. Sounds great… Right?
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Sunday, November 22, 2009
Deflation Returns To Japan, Government Spending Black Hole Madness In U.S. / Economics / Deflation
By: Mike_Shedlock
Japan has been hopping in and out of deflation for decades. Japan is back in deflation once again. The Wall Street Journal is reporting Deflation's Return Weighs on Japan
Saturday, November 21, 2009
The Hidden Costs of Too Much Government Debt / Economics / US Debt
By: Mike_Larson
This week was a fascinating one on the geopolitical front. President Barack Obama travelled to China in what was billed as a major diplomatic trip.
The idea? Try to reach common ground on several fronts, including global nuclear proliferation, environmental issues, and especially China’s currency …
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Saturday, November 21, 2009
Government Debt Default, How (Not If) Will it Happen / Economics / US Debt
By: Gary_North
I have surveyed the Austrian School's theory of money. This theory began with Ludwig von Mises' "Theory of Money and Credit" (1912). I presented Mises' theory of fractional reserve banking and the creation of the business cycle in my mini-book, Mises on Money (2002).
The previous parts of this series are on-line here.
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Saturday, November 21, 2009
Financial and Economic Situation Could Get Ugly Fast / Economics / Economic Stimulus
By: Mike_Whitney
Things could get ugly fast. With the Democrats backing-off on a second round of stimulus, the Fed signaling an end to quantitative easing, and Obama moaning about rising deficits; there's a good chance that the stumbling recovery could turn into another sharp plunge. Bank lending is shrinking, consumers spending is off, housing prices are falling, unemployment is soaring and the wholesale credit markets are in a shambles. This isn't the time to slash government support in the name of "fiscal responsibility". Obama needs to ignore the gloomsters and alarmists and pay attention to the Nobel laureates like Joe Stiglitz and Paul Krugman. They're the guys who know how to steer the ship to safe water.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
The Great Economic Stimulus Debate of 2009 / Economics / Economic Stimulus
By: Mike_Whitney
"Crybabies need not apply"
Barack Obama has decided to push the economy back into recession, and no one can figure out why. Perhaps the impressionable Obama has come under the spell of the deficit hawks and crystal gazers who see Armageddon around every corner. Or maybe he's thrown-in with the snappish Marc Faber whose dire predictions of hyperinflation are about as cheery as Hieronymus Bosch's vision of Hell. Whatever the reason, the President has done a hasty volte-face and decided that trimming the deficits in the middle of a severe economic downturn is the way to go. Here's what Obama said just days ago on his Asia tour:
Friday, November 20, 2009
A Wiser Use of Borrowed Money / Economics / US Debt
By: Andy_Sutton
It nearly slipped through the cracks this week as mediastocracy marveled at the apparent lack of inflation as the PPI and CPI reports his the wires. However, just beneath the surface, the financial and economic metamorphosis continues unabated. I am talking about Qatar and its very successful bond sale.
Friday, November 20, 2009
This Black Friday Will Be More Important Than Most! / Economics / US Economy
By: Sy_Harding
The day after the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S., known as Black Friday, traditionally marks the beginning of the holiday shopping season in the U.S.
Friday, November 20, 2009
The Pro-Free-Market Program for Economic Recovery / Economics / Economic Recovery
By: George_Reisman
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen: As you all know, we are in a severe economic downturn. The official unemployment rate now exceeds 10 percent and according to many observers is actually substantially higher. Within the last year or so, our financial system has been rocked to its foundations. The collapse of the housing bubble and the numerous defaults and bankruptcies connected with it brought down major financial institutions, such as Bear-Stearns, Lehman Brothers, and Merrill Lynch. It also brought down numerous small and medium-sized banks and threatened to bring down even such banking giants as Citigroup and Bank of America.
Friday, November 20, 2009
The Weak U.S. Dollar Was Supposed to Fix Everything / Economics / US Dollar
By: Michael_Pento
The inflation redux plan from the Fed and Washington is based on zero interest rates, massive deficits and quantitative easing, which are designed to bring down the value of the U.S. dollar and create inflation. That is the truth, despite promises from Treasury Secretary Geithner that he really means it this time when he says the U.S. has a strong dollar policy--the irony being, that he says this while concurrently begging the Chinese to allow the dollar to fall vs. the Renminbi. But their hopes placed in a lower dollar are woefully misguided and all that is being accomplished is to put into place the same conditions that brought the global financial system to its knees.
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Friday, November 20, 2009
Why Investors Can’t Ignore a Rebounding Japan / Economics / Japan Economy
By: Money_Morning
Martin Hutchinson writes: In a visit to Japan in the early 1990s, U.S. President George H.W. Bush threw up over the Japanese prime minister. When President Barack Obama visited Japan last weekend, he offered an effusive bow to the Emperor Akihito.
Politically, U.S.-Japanese relations have improved dramatically during that two-decade stretch.
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Friday, November 20, 2009
Good Inflation / Economics / Inflation
By: Joseph_T_Salerno
Last week a student in my MBA-level intermediate-macro seminar raised a provocative question. We were discussing the various kinds of (price) deflation and which kinds, according to Austrians, are benign and accommodate consumer preferences, and which are malignant and conflict with consumer preferences.
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Friday, November 20, 2009
Keynes the Man as Rotten as His Economic Theory - Part 2 / Economics / Economic Theory
By: Murray_N_Rothbard
Keynes's Political Economy
In The General Theory, Keynes set forth a unique politicoeconomic sociology, dividing the population of each country into several rigidly separated economic classes, each with its own behavioral laws and characteristics, each carrying its own implicit moral evaluation. First, there is the mass of consumers: dumb, robotic, their behavior fixed and totally determined by external forces. In Keynes's assertion, the main force is a rigid proportion of their total income, namely, their determined "consumption function."
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Friday, November 20, 2009
Keynes the Man as Rotten as His Economic Theory / Economics / Economic Theory
By: Murray_N_Rothbard
John Maynard Keynes, the man – his character, his writings, and his actions throughout life – was composed of three guiding and interacting elements. The first was his overweening egotism, which assured him that he could handle all intellectual problems quickly and accurately and led him to scorn any general principles that might curb his unbridled ego. The second was his strong sense that he was born into, and destined to be a leader of, Great Britain's ruling elite.
Friday, November 20, 2009
The U.S. Recession Jobless Interest Rate Conundrum / Economics / Recession 2008 - 2010
By: Tim_Iacono
Just about everywhere you look these days in the financial media, when the topic of discussion turns to the plunging U.S. dollar, you'll hear someone saying something like, "Unless the Fed raises interest rates, the dollar's got nowhere to go but down".
And then someone invariably says, "But the central bank can't raise interest rates. Not with the unemployment rate at over ten percent!"