On The Economic Populist you might have noticed the middle column. We try to list other sites and blogs who have exceptional insight and writing on what is happening in the U.S. economy.
Sometimes though, one cannot say it better but miss those who did.
The US economy grew at a 5.9 percent annual rate in the fourth quarter of 2009. That sounds good until you realize GDP figures are badly distorted by structural changes in the economy. For example, part of the increase is due to rising health care costs. When WellPoint ratchets up premiums, that enlarges the GDP. But you’d have to be out of your mind to consider this evidence of a recovery.
It's Friday Night! Party Time! Time to relax, put your feet up on the couch, lay back, and watch some detailed videos on economic policy!
The good news is more and more people are recording lectures, forums and talks and putting them online. There were two major conferences where some of the clips are online that I believe EP readers will want to watch.
The shit has hit the fan and Lehman Brothers was busy cooking the books before they imploded. Where have we seen this before? Let's see, we had Enron, Worldcom, Citigroup, accounting scandals, AIG scandals and here we are.
Maybe we got a bail out because it is within bankruptcy court these discoveries are made. With a Lehman Rescue would we ever have known this latest rip off and scam?
Below is a Dylan Ratigan show clip, where he explains what Lehman Brothers did, in a nice visual and analogy so you can grasp the magnitude.
The standoff is over. Greece made painful cuts, so the rest of Europe is stepping up to bail them out. Expect this scene to get replayed again in the coming years.
Autos down -2.4%, Electronics & Appliances up 3.7%, Gas stations up 0.3%, grocery up 1.3% and general retail stores up 2.5%, all in comparison to last month.
For whatever reason, the administration has not taken full advantage of its chance to shape monetary policy during the downturn. The number of open positions is a large fraction of the Federal Reserve Board, and it skews the balance of power on the Federal Open Market Committee (where monetary policy is decided) toward the regional banks. Many of the regional bank presidents are inflation hawks, more so than the Governors, so this may have affected the Fed’s policy choices.
These numbers are impressive, and they surprised me. But remember, these are numbers that are bouncing back from somewhere deeper than the basement floor. There's a long climb back to the top still ahead of us.
Remember how the latest Jobs bill had yet another bail out for Goldman Sachs? How Senator Chuck Grassley was digging around on those Build American bond underwriting fees? Well Goldman Sach responded to Senator Chuck Grassley and made $54 million in fees from selling Build America Bonds, 1/3 to municipalities, and then an additional $1.7 million on adviser fees.
It's Friday Night! Party Time! Time to relax, put your feet up on the couch, lay back, and watch some detailed videos on economic policy!
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