We all feel unappreciated sometimes. It was the particular genius of überlibertarian author Ayn Rand to turn those hurt …
Economy & Policy
Romney Pal Writes an Ode to Inequality
Mitt Romney no doubt appreciates the million bucks his former Bain Capital protégé Edward Conard has donated to his election SuperPAC. He may not appreciate quite as much the shout-out he gets in the acknowledgements of …
Spain’s Death Spiral and the Hypocrisy of the Euro
Anyone out there who thinks the euro zone debt crisis is over – and you know who you are – should take a good look at what’s going on in Spain. If Italy represented the biggest threat to the euro in 2011, then Spain will be …
Obama’s Job Creation Tax Credit: Cool Idea, Bad Policy
A tax credit? For small businesses? To create jobs? And raise wages? Wow! What a great idea! What’s not to like?
Quite a bit, in fact. In his fiscal 2013 budget proposal, President Obama has suggested a temporary 10% tax …
The Big Winner of the Great Recession Is …
The recent recession has been the most brutal since the Great Depression and has caused enormous hardship for many American families, as well as immense financial problems for governments around the world. As a result, it’s hard …
American Unemployment Falls to 8.6%: Amazing News, But Is It a Game Changer?
Just when we were expecting the economy to go boom it went zoom.
The unemployment rate in November dropped faster than it has in more than 11 years. You have to go back to September 2000 to get a quicker decline. What’s more, …
The Dismal Jobs Number: Time for New Stimulus?
There goes the recovery.
In May, the number of people employed in America rose by just 54,000. In addition, the unemployment rate rose for the second month in a row to 9.1%. Worse, the time it’s taking unemployed people to find a job rose to a new high of 39.7 weeks, or nearly 10 months. There was bad news in May’s jobs report, and then …
America’s Hottest Investment: Farmland
This is usually a slow time of the year for farm sales. It’s past prime planting season. Yet, Sam Kain, Des Moines area manager for land sales at Farmers National, is busy. He has 3 auctions this week. Most of the 30 or so bidders who show up will be farmers. But an increasing number of people buying land these days have no intention …
Why House Prices are Double Dipping
Welcome back to the sour economy.
It didn’t take long after the Memorial Day break to get the latest signs that the recovery remains in the gutter. The housing market has been looking like it was headed for a double dip for some time. On Tuesday, we got confirmation that it happened. According to the S&P/Case-Shilller housing index, …
New Rules For the Job Interview
The job interview has always been a crucial part of the hiring process. But in today’s intensely competitive labor market, it couldn’t be more key. For every open position, expect to find an army of qualified, and even overqualified, candidates starving for work in a country with 9% unemployment. If you’re lucky enough to make it …
TIME 100: What’s the Most Influential Business in America?
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The S & P Goes Bearish On the U.S.
Is this the first domino in the next global financial crisis? It’s possible. Today the S & P revised its long-term credit rating outlook for the U.S. from “stable” to “negative.” The immediate result has been a flight from risky assets and anything linked to optimistic views on global growth – gold and Treasuries are up, …