The Hollowing Out of Government
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Posted May 5, 2013 | 5:54 PM
The West, Texas chemical and fertilizer plant where at least
15 were killed and more than 200 injured a few weeks ago hadn't been
fully inspected by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration
since 1985. (A partial inspection in 2011 had resulted in $5,250 in
fines.)
OSHA and its state...
OSHA and its state...
The Flaccid Jobs Report
We remain in the gravitational pull of the Great Recession.
The Labor Department reports that 165,000 new jobs were created in April
-- below the average gains of 183,000 in the previous three months.
We can't achieve escape velocity. Since mid-2010, the three-month rolling average of job gains hasn't dipped...
We can't achieve escape velocity. Since mid-2010, the three-month rolling average of job gains hasn't dipped...
The Fed, Apple and Trickle-Down Economics
The Fed's policy of keeping interest rates near zero is another form of trickle-down economics.
For evidence, look no further than Apple's decision to borrow a whopping $17 billion and turn it over to its investors in the form of dividends and stock buy-backs.
Apple is...
For evidence, look no further than Apple's decision to borrow a whopping $17 billion and turn it over to its investors in the form of dividends and stock buy-backs.
Apple is...
Public Debt and Economic Growth
In the election of 1952 my father voted for Dwight
Eisenhower. When I asked him why he explained that "FDR's debt" was
still burdening the economy -- and that I and my children and my
grandchildren would be paying it down for as long as we lived.
I was...
I was...
Earth to Washington: Repeal the Sequester
Economic forecasters exist to make astrologers look good.
Most had forecast growth of at least 3 percent (on an annualized basis)
in the first quarter. But we learned this morning (in the Commerce Department's report) it grew only 2.5 percent.
That's better than the 2 percent growth last...
That's better than the 2 percent growth last...
The Xenophobe Party
The xenophobia has already begun.
Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid today urged him to reconsider immigration legislation because of the bombings in Boston. "The facts emerging in the Boston Marathon bombing have exposed a weakness in our current system," Paul...
Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid today urged him to reconsider immigration legislation because of the bombings in Boston. "The facts emerging in the Boston Marathon bombing have exposed a weakness in our current system," Paul...
The Dis-Uniting of America (2): Social Issues and the Demographic Split
My first reaction on hearing of the Senate's failure to get
60 votes for even modest measures to regulate the flow of guns into the
hands of people who shouldn't have them, such as background checks
supported by 90 percent of Americans, was to be furious at the
spinelessness of...
