Economy
Anybody else uncomfortable with the implicit suggestion of this sort of report? The economy is mildly recovering, employment will likely dip a bit more, and: The problem for the economy is that the expected growth this quarter comes mainly from the auto companies and other manufacturers, which are refilling their depleted stockpiles. Those inventories had…
A couple of things that I’ve read, recently, reinforce a healthy concern about the sheer size of the aggregated pool of power that a growing government creates and the incentives that it generates. The first example comes from an article by Kevin Williamson in National Review about Congressman Barney Frank (subscription required): Fannie Mae and…
Don’t let this tidbit slip past our awareness: Emerging from a tough competition, four Rhode Island police forces have won money from the federal economic stimulus program to hire police officers, the White House has announced. The largest single sum, $3,529,812, goes to Providence, to hire 13 officers. The other beneficiaries are Pawtucket, to hire…
So the national unemployment rate is 0.3% shy of 10%, and economists are debating when, not whether, it will achieve double-digits. In Rhode Island, which has been in double-digits for quite some time, already, the experts continue their reluctant predictive marches toward my initial gut estimate of 14-15%. And worst of all, usage of the…
President Obama has put the government on track to realize nearly one trillion dollars per year of cumulative deficit for the next decade: In a chilling forecast, the White House is predicting a 10-year federal deficit of $9 trillion — more than the sum of all previous deficits since America’s founding. And it says by…
Sing it, brother: That’s why the “stimulus” flopped. It didn’t just fail to stimulate, it actively deterred stimulation, because it was the first explicit signal to America and the world that the Democrats’ political priorities overrode everything else. If you’re a business owner, why take on extra employees when cap’n’trade is promising increased regulatory costs…
So, despite a decrease in the national rate (because Americans have begun giving up on finding work), Rhode Island’s unemployment moved up to 12.7%. Not to worry, though; see, when the national rate decreases because folks give up, it’s a positive sign, and when Rhode Island’s rate goes up, it’s also a good sign: The…
In the comments to my post on teachers’ paying for classroom supplies, Mike from Assigned Reading offers his objection: You know I’m a public school teacher Justin, and I am generally on your side. I believe the unions and bureaucracy are the significant problems in public education. With that in mind, I found this post…
i have a piece in today’s ProJo about Waxman-Markey, which will be debated later this year in the Senate. The link is here. This legislation is on a par with Obamacare as an economic nightmare.
With the reminder that Rhode Island is at the top of the list when it comes to stimulus spending per capita, I thought of a table that I’d seen predicting the years during which each state’s economy would recover to pre-recession employment levels. Curious what it would look like, I added the recovery information to…