Economy

Things We Read Today, 8

By Justin Katz | September 11, 2012 |

Today: September 11, global change, evolution, economics, 17th amendment, gold standard, and a boughten electorate… all to a purpose.

Things We Read Today, 7

By Justin Katz | September 10, 2012 |

Today it’s debt and gambling, from bonds to pensions to entitlements, with consideration of regionalization, ObamaCare, and campaign finance.

I’ll Ask Again: Better Off?

By Marc Comtois | September 7, 2012 |

What is 4:1? The ratio of people who stopped looking for jobs as compared to those who found one in August. James Pethokoukis: – Nonfarm payrolls increased by only 96,000 in August, the Labor Department said, versus expectations of 125,000 jobs or more. The manufacturing sector, much touted by the president in his convention speech,…

Things We Read Today, 4

By Justin Katz | September 6, 2012 |

Today, I touch briefly (for me) on long-term vs. short-term recovery, who’s better off, RI’s long spiral (and potential for quick resurgence), and the significance of different ballot types in Cicilline-Loughlin.

Government Surplus Wasn’t the Problem; It’s the How That Matters

By Justin Katz | September 6, 2012 |

In his daily flurry of tweets, WPRI reporter Ted Nesi linked to an interesting article by Joe Weisenthal in Business Insider. Weisenthal’s conclusion is that the government surpluses of President Bill Clinton’s second term were, themselves, the cause of the late ’00s’ economic bust: The bottom line is that the signature achievement of the Clinton…

Things We Read Today, 3

By Justin Katz | September 5, 2012 |

Today’s short takes address misleading labeling at the DNC, misleading fact-checking, fading national competitiveness, and the September 10 mentality.

Things We Read Today, 1

By Justin Katz | September 3, 2012 |

One thing I’ve learned, in years of blogging, is to be wary of proclaiming new regular features.  Yet, I’ve been finding myself at the end of each day with a browserful of tabs of content on which I’m inclined to comment. So, as interest and time allow, I’ll publish quick-hit posts containing commentary that is…

Leaning Against the Privileged Place of Investments

By Justin Katz | September 3, 2012 |

Readers shouldn’t be surprised to hear that I’m largely in agreement with Peter Ferrara’s “Obama’s Accelerating Downward Spiral for America,” but he happens to voice one bit of center-right common wisdom with which I have growing disagreement: There is no secret or magic as to how to turn around these declining incomes.  Increased investment in business…

Against Incentivizing Cooperative Strategic Workarounds with Comprehensive Market-Driven Measurables

By Justin Katz | September 2, 2012 |

At the risk of repeating myself, I have to opine that one of Rhode Island’s core economic challenges is the frequency of sentences like this: To position Rhode Island to compete successfully for jobs and investments, a new public/private economic-development partnership should be designed to implement an integrated economic-development strategy that focuses on business retention…

All of Us Are the Job Generators

By Justin Katz | August 31, 2012 |

Although with regret, I have to opine that former East Providence city councilman Robert Cusack misses the target in his op-ed, yesterday, suggesting a way for Rhode Island to rejuvenate its sputtering economy: We need to identify a job generator, make the changes needed to attract those jobs and then promote Rhode Island to execute…