Business & Economics
Business & Economics
Fed Was `Premature’ to Cut Rates, Former Central Banker Says
Jan. 22 (Bloomberg) — The Federal Reserve was too quick to reduce interest rates today in an emergency move after global stock markets tumbled, a former Fed president said. “It strikes me as very premature,” Lee Hoskins, former president of the Cleveland Fed, said in an interview after the central ...
Business & Economics
Government lacks magic bullet to kill recessions
Those who study a country’s economic conditions, mostly macro-economists, track general trends – inflation, unemployment, productivity, comparative strength of the currency, et cetera. But the basics of all these are mostly local matters, all about what happens to you, me, our neighbors, all about what we decide to do with ...
California
New PRI Report Exposes True Cost of Governor Schwarzenegger’s Health Care Proposal
Proposal costs 2 ½ times more than planned, 50,000 to 100,000 jobs lost annually Introducing the California “Sick Tax” Calculator San Francisco — Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposed $14 billion dollar health care plan would likely cost $36 billion in 2010 – 2.5 times more than budgeted – according to California ...
Commentary
Religious leaders make health care a moral issue
NEW BRITAIN — Religious leaders from all corners of New England converged on South Church Tuesday to urge establishment of universal health care. Despite the denominational mix of clergy, all seemed to agree the system is broken and needs to be repaired or replaced. Juan Figueroa, president of the Universal ...
Business & Economics
The Fed Painted Into a Keynesian Corner
Although one sympathizes with Ben Bernanke—after all, it wasn’t his fault that Greenspan handed him an economy rigged with ticking housing and mortgage bombs—the harsh reality is that the Federal Reserve can’t create prosperity. Strip away all the pomp and glamour of “open market operations” and the like, and we’re ...
Business & Economics
Private efforts result in better problem solving
Often when some unexpected challenge faces a person, someone asks, “What are you going to do about this?” The answer, frequently delivered with casual confidence, tends to be: “I’ll think of something.” No answer and attitude better characterizes how to think about problem solving in a free society. Unlike the ...
Business & Economics
True Hollywood Scandals: The Courtroom Legacy of Anna Nicole Smith with Horace Cooper.
Anna Nicole Smith’s life was a tabloid’s dream. Even though she passed away almost one year ago, her saga lives on in the media through battles ranging from paternity disputes to prescription drug abuse to disputed legal fees. As the 9th Circuit gets ready to take up her case again, ...
Business & Economics
Amazon Leads La Résistance Against Protectionism
The French Booksellers’ Union launched its case against Amazon in 2004, alleging that the company’s ‘free shipping’ policy constitutes an illegal discount on books. According to a 1981 law designed to protect France’s independent publishers and bookstores, no discount on books can exceed five percent off the publisher’s recommended price. ...
Business & Economics
When Web 2.0 Meets Politics
Hillary Clinton is my friend. On MySpace, that is. If I were going to vote for the first candidate that responded to my social networking “friend” request, it would be her. Of course, that’s a silly idea, but with all the hoopla over politicians using new technologies, one might ask: ...
Business & Economics
The Writers Strike and Jay Leno’s Monologue
I am an economist, not a lawyer, and so I won’t comment on the validity of the union claim. Leno is a member of the Guild, and could very well be contractually bound in such matters (though NBC predictably challenges this claim). On the other hand, even if something might ...
Fed Was `Premature’ to Cut Rates, Former Central Banker Says
Jan. 22 (Bloomberg) — The Federal Reserve was too quick to reduce interest rates today in an emergency move after global stock markets tumbled, a former Fed president said. “It strikes me as very premature,” Lee Hoskins, former president of the Cleveland Fed, said in an interview after the central ...
Government lacks magic bullet to kill recessions
Those who study a country’s economic conditions, mostly macro-economists, track general trends – inflation, unemployment, productivity, comparative strength of the currency, et cetera. But the basics of all these are mostly local matters, all about what happens to you, me, our neighbors, all about what we decide to do with ...
New PRI Report Exposes True Cost of Governor Schwarzenegger’s Health Care Proposal
Proposal costs 2 ½ times more than planned, 50,000 to 100,000 jobs lost annually Introducing the California “Sick Tax” Calculator San Francisco — Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposed $14 billion dollar health care plan would likely cost $36 billion in 2010 – 2.5 times more than budgeted – according to California ...
Religious leaders make health care a moral issue
NEW BRITAIN — Religious leaders from all corners of New England converged on South Church Tuesday to urge establishment of universal health care. Despite the denominational mix of clergy, all seemed to agree the system is broken and needs to be repaired or replaced. Juan Figueroa, president of the Universal ...
The Fed Painted Into a Keynesian Corner
Although one sympathizes with Ben Bernanke—after all, it wasn’t his fault that Greenspan handed him an economy rigged with ticking housing and mortgage bombs—the harsh reality is that the Federal Reserve can’t create prosperity. Strip away all the pomp and glamour of “open market operations” and the like, and we’re ...
Private efforts result in better problem solving
Often when some unexpected challenge faces a person, someone asks, “What are you going to do about this?” The answer, frequently delivered with casual confidence, tends to be: “I’ll think of something.” No answer and attitude better characterizes how to think about problem solving in a free society. Unlike the ...
True Hollywood Scandals: The Courtroom Legacy of Anna Nicole Smith with Horace Cooper.
Anna Nicole Smith’s life was a tabloid’s dream. Even though she passed away almost one year ago, her saga lives on in the media through battles ranging from paternity disputes to prescription drug abuse to disputed legal fees. As the 9th Circuit gets ready to take up her case again, ...
Amazon Leads La Résistance Against Protectionism
The French Booksellers’ Union launched its case against Amazon in 2004, alleging that the company’s ‘free shipping’ policy constitutes an illegal discount on books. According to a 1981 law designed to protect France’s independent publishers and bookstores, no discount on books can exceed five percent off the publisher’s recommended price. ...
When Web 2.0 Meets Politics
Hillary Clinton is my friend. On MySpace, that is. If I were going to vote for the first candidate that responded to my social networking “friend” request, it would be her. Of course, that’s a silly idea, but with all the hoopla over politicians using new technologies, one might ask: ...
The Writers Strike and Jay Leno’s Monologue
I am an economist, not a lawyer, and so I won’t comment on the validity of the union claim. Leno is a member of the Guild, and could very well be contractually bound in such matters (though NBC predictably challenges this claim). On the other hand, even if something might ...
