Economy Nov 22 Small Business Owners and the Bush Tax Cut Debate: No Easy Answers Name: Howard Herbst Question: Republicans say they want to keep the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy to protect small businesses. Can't the tax code be quickly and easily redesigned to allow small business income reported on an individual (personal)…
Economy Nov 19 The Confidence of Ben Bernanke in Germany "The Fed chairman's message, though scholarly in tone, was unusually blunt," wrote the Wall Street Journal, "laying blame for inflationary pressures in emerging markets and for tensions over currencies on countries like China." The Financial Times underscored another…
Economy Nov 18 Joe Nocera’s Hall of Shame "We titled the book 'All the Devils are Here'," said Joe Nocera's co-author, Bethany McLean, "because in the wake of the crisis there has been this search for a simplistic answer. Ah! Fannie and Freddie, they must be the…
Economy Nov 18 GM: Worthless to Record-Breaking Over a year ago, General Motors told investors its stock was worthless and to stop trading it. To say the company has experienced a turnaround is a bit of an understatement. After a month of speculation and a last-minute…
Economy Nov 17 Economics is Missing A Funny Bone | An Interview With ‘Merle Hazard’ The [Fed's announcement](http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2010/11/fed-slow-growth-disappointing-will-engage-in-second-round-of-quantitiative-easing.html) of another round of so-called "quantitative easing" (QE2) is much in the news. Basically, it's an announced commitment to create $600 billion dollars or more of new "Federal reserves" - i.e., U.S. dollars - and [pump them…
Economy Nov 15 How Would YOU Balance the U.S. Budget? The Sunday Times featured an exercise that it might make sense for all Americans to try, and certainly members of Congress pressing to balance the budget- Budget Puzzle: You Fix the Budget. And if you prefer to get out…
Economy Nov 11 American Debt and The Chinese Government: A Match Made in Purgatory? Editor's Note: The United States is in debt to the tune of $13.7 trillion. But for what, and to whom? Basically, the debt is the result of more spending that saving at every level, from individual households to businesses to…
Arts Nov 11 U.S. Debt and the Chinese Government: A Match Made in Purgatory? The United States is in debt to the tune of $13.7 trillion. But for what, and to whom? At its core, the debt is the result of more spending than saving at every level, from individual households to businesses…
Economy Nov 10 How Stimulating is Military Spending? Name: Rich Tuloch Question: I learned long, long ago in school that military spending is a form of economic stimulus. If I am correct, the past administration (President Bush & co.) spent a great deal more money as stimulus than…
Economy Nov 08 The Fed’s Latest Move: Monetary Debauchery? Forgive me for not answering a question today, but posting a note about the Fed. Its decision last week: to purchase a further $600 billion of longer-term Treasury securities by the end of the second quarter of 2011, a…