May 20, 2017

Rosenstein's yuge favor for Trump

Rob Rosenstein, Trump's new deputy attorney general, did the Trump agenda a huge favor on Wednesday when he appointed former FBI director Robert Mueller as special counsel to investigate the Trump-Russia connection. His action has already take...

April 16, 2017

Trump Is Right: Keep the Export-Import Bank

The House of Representatives has a bill pending to extend the life of the Export-Import Bank.  The majority, consisting of Democrats and centrist Republicans dedicated to the bill, guarantees its passage by the House. President Trump has alre...

July 5, 2014

The Minimum Wage is a Racist Law

In his 2014 State of the Union Address, President Obama praised the states that had recently raised their minimum wages, and he called upon Congress to raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 per hour to $10.10. He said: Tom Harkin and George ...

April 11, 2014

Mixed Socialist-Capitalist Systems Don't Work, Either

One does not have to point to the fall of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or to the failure of Labor Party policies in the U.K. to justify the conclusion that governments are incapable of efficiently producing goods and services. (Some few ex...

December 20, 2013

Jobless Claims Up

Economists watch the weekly reports of initial jobless claims for the first indication of possible new trends in the American economy.  The latest two reports suggest that a possible new trend could be negative.  On Thursday, the Department...

May 24, 2012

Saving Greece, Europe, and the United States

Greece, Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, and the U.S. are close to bankruptcy, and they all have the same problems: profligate government, large trade deficits, and bewildered economists. Moreover, the G8 statement was ruling out any real solution to ...

October 22, 2011

Gov. Perry is On Track to Create a Million Jobs

Republican presidential candidate, Gov. Rick Perry, says his energy plan will "kick start economic growth: and create 1.2 million jobs," and he is correct.  He revealed his "Energizing American Jobs and Security" plan in an October 14 speech at ...

September 29, 2011

Obama's Jobs Act Wouldn't Work. Here's What Would.

President Obama is doing his best to blame his bad economic record on his Republican opponents.  He has a proposed bill, the American Jobs Act, which would supposedly create jobs, so he bashes Republicans at every opportunity for not supporting ...

May 1, 2011

House Republican Budget Plan Would Benefit the Poor

In an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal (Paul Ryan's Reverse Robin Hood Budget), Princeton economics professor Alan S. Blinder excoriates the House Republican budget plan, put together by House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan, claimin...

February 3, 2011

Obama Picks a Progressive Lawyer for Top Economist

On January 11, President Obama chose Gene Sperling to replace Lawrence Summers as his director of the National Economic Council.  Sperling's educational background is in law with a degree from Yale.  He owes his reputation as an economic po...

September 7, 2009

American Socialism & Chinese Capitalism

On August 31, the Wall Street Journal reported that GM has entered into a 50-50 joint venture with FAW Group, a major "Chinese state-owned auto maker." GM is the major U.S. state-owned auto maker. The venture will add, according to GM China...

April 8, 2009

The Vote that (may have) Changed the World

In a procedural vote on April 1, 2009, 26 Democratic Senators joined all of the Republicans in defeating, for now, a climate change bill that would have allowed fast-tracking of President Obama's cap-and-tax proposal so that it could be passed a...