It’s Not Supply and It’s Not Demand – Must be Geopolitics The breathless predictions of $4 and $5 and $6 a gallon gas are making the round again and it is once again time for the analysts to try to one up each other with predictions of imminent doom. What strikes one as somewhat odd [...]
Is That the Sound of Inflation Coming? Not that any of us knows what that sound is actually. Maybe something between the screams of people waking up to gas prices that are 15 cents higher than they were when they went to bed and the groans of people looking at their grocery bill. Since the [...]
Dr. Doom and His Four Warnings There is nothing quite like the constant wail of an economist who takes being a dismal scientist very seriously. Dr. Ariel Roubini is never going to be mistaken for a Pollyanna. He is ever ready with the direst of forecasts and will reliably focus on the dark cloud regardless [...]
Payroll Tax Cut Extension Likely This is one of those issues that invites a great deal of election year posturing but it is also one that forces a response because of that election looming in the not very distant future. The extension of the payroll tax cut to the end of February was a pure [...]
Taxing the Rich This will be the focal point of this year’s political contest. If one assumes that the deficit and debt are problems of sufficient importance to require concentrated attention there are not all that many options available. One can cut spending to the point that the deficit erodes or one can raise additional [...]
Movement in the Credit Markets? For the past two years the major issue as far as business recovery is concerned has been access to credit. In 2008 it was the utter collapse of credit that propelled the recession and throughout the recovery period there has been a lack of available cash for business to expand [...]
Will the Mortgage Deal Help All That Much? The deal to address the issue of foreclosure has been on the verge of approval for months. The Obama administration had been satisfied with the key provisions of the arrangement and the five biggest banks that were engaged with the talks had agreed on arrangements. The holdout [...]
Return to the US for Business There has been a lot of hand wringing over the last few years as it appeared that the US was on the verge of hollowing out its economy in the name of cost reduction. The litany of companies that were decamping from the US in search of cheaper options [...]
Budget Plan is Political Document The point is made over and over but it bears repeating. The President is only partially responsible for the state of the economy – good or bad. Not that the Executive doesn’t have powers and influence but as the word suggests the majority of the power is in the execution [...]
Per Barrel Prices Start to Settle a Bit The price per barrel of oil is shifting around a pretty narrow band as the market is having a hard time deciding what to be most worried about. There are drivers that will likely force the price of oil down and drivers that will likely force the [...]
