Unemployment
Agriculture
The ‘credit crunch’: another Great Depression?
In the first part of his essay on the 1930s and today, Sean Collins puts the case for going beyond Keynesianism and monetarism and the obsession with finance to look at the deeper structural problems of capitalism. Last month Christina Romer, chair of the Obama administration’s Council of Economic Advisers, ...
Business & Economics
Blame it on the followers of Keynes
As the United States, Canada and other countries unleash trillions of dollars of economic stimulus packages on the world’s teetering financial system, it may be helpful to recall that the last time governments tried to “fix” the economy with mountains of borrowed money, it ended up making the problem worse. ...
Commentary
When America becomes Obamaland
There is one certainty about the shape of things to come if President Barack Obama wins approval of his extraordinarily ambitious proposals to remake America: We won’t recognize our country when he’s finished. Perhaps the most prominent feature of Obamaland will be long lines, starting with the unemployment offices, thanks ...
Business & Economics
Union Bosses, Corporate Lobbyists, and Maybe Even A Secretary of Health
Within three weeks of his inauguration, President Obama made a “down payment” on health reform that would put any used-car buyer to shame. Last month, we noted that President Obama had increased the fragmentation, bureaucracy, and cost of health care in at least three ways. Mr. Obama’s kids’ health program ...
Business & Economics
U. S. moving in wrong direction with card check
The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), a likely hot button for the Obama administration, would fundamentally alter the balance of power in the U. S. labor market and impose enormous costs on workers. Ironically, as America moves to fundamentally change the way unions are certified, other countries, like Canada, are ...
Business & Economics
Turning America into a Blue State; Bad Idea?
Some of the right-wing blogs I read are convinced that President Obama sincerely wants to destroy entrepreneurship in this country. This is nonsense. Obama loves entrepreneurship, but he would like to make a few changes to it. It’s the nature of the changes that worries me. If these changes worry ...
Climate Change
CA Nightmare: Worsening State’s Fiscal Crisis Through Bad Climate Policy
I have spent my entire 35 year professional life developing and implementing energy policies vital to our state. So it pains me to now see California taking an unfortunate misstep: embracing participation in the Western Climate Initiative. WCI, developed by seven U.S. states (California is joined by Oregon, Washington, Utah, ...
Business & Economics
The stimulus bill and American health care
Orange County Register, March 1, 2009 Tom Daschle’s nomination to be secretary of Health and Human Services misfired, but that has not stopped President Barack Obama from loading billions of dollars onto the wagon of government-run health care. And he wants to shovel them in as fast as possible. On ...
Business & Economics
Will the Employee Free Choice Act aid or undo labor’s gains?
President Obama is committed to pragmatism and reforms that “work” for the improvement of the economy. The president’s commitment faces a tough test in one congressional proposal now on the horizon. The bill, known as the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) represents one of the most fundamental and sweeping changes ...
Business & Economics
Card check – U.S. moving in wrong direction
The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), a likely hot button for the Obama administration, would fundamentally alter the balance of power in the U.S. labor market and impose enormous costs on workers. Ironically, as America moves to fundamentally change the way unions are certified, other countries, like Canada, are moving ...
The ‘credit crunch’: another Great Depression?
In the first part of his essay on the 1930s and today, Sean Collins puts the case for going beyond Keynesianism and monetarism and the obsession with finance to look at the deeper structural problems of capitalism. Last month Christina Romer, chair of the Obama administration’s Council of Economic Advisers, ...
Blame it on the followers of Keynes
As the United States, Canada and other countries unleash trillions of dollars of economic stimulus packages on the world’s teetering financial system, it may be helpful to recall that the last time governments tried to “fix” the economy with mountains of borrowed money, it ended up making the problem worse. ...
When America becomes Obamaland
There is one certainty about the shape of things to come if President Barack Obama wins approval of his extraordinarily ambitious proposals to remake America: We won’t recognize our country when he’s finished. Perhaps the most prominent feature of Obamaland will be long lines, starting with the unemployment offices, thanks ...
Union Bosses, Corporate Lobbyists, and Maybe Even A Secretary of Health
Within three weeks of his inauguration, President Obama made a “down payment” on health reform that would put any used-car buyer to shame. Last month, we noted that President Obama had increased the fragmentation, bureaucracy, and cost of health care in at least three ways. Mr. Obama’s kids’ health program ...
U. S. moving in wrong direction with card check
The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), a likely hot button for the Obama administration, would fundamentally alter the balance of power in the U. S. labor market and impose enormous costs on workers. Ironically, as America moves to fundamentally change the way unions are certified, other countries, like Canada, are ...
Turning America into a Blue State; Bad Idea?
Some of the right-wing blogs I read are convinced that President Obama sincerely wants to destroy entrepreneurship in this country. This is nonsense. Obama loves entrepreneurship, but he would like to make a few changes to it. It’s the nature of the changes that worries me. If these changes worry ...
CA Nightmare: Worsening State’s Fiscal Crisis Through Bad Climate Policy
I have spent my entire 35 year professional life developing and implementing energy policies vital to our state. So it pains me to now see California taking an unfortunate misstep: embracing participation in the Western Climate Initiative. WCI, developed by seven U.S. states (California is joined by Oregon, Washington, Utah, ...
The stimulus bill and American health care
Orange County Register, March 1, 2009 Tom Daschle’s nomination to be secretary of Health and Human Services misfired, but that has not stopped President Barack Obama from loading billions of dollars onto the wagon of government-run health care. And he wants to shovel them in as fast as possible. On ...
Will the Employee Free Choice Act aid or undo labor’s gains?
President Obama is committed to pragmatism and reforms that “work” for the improvement of the economy. The president’s commitment faces a tough test in one congressional proposal now on the horizon. The bill, known as the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) represents one of the most fundamental and sweeping changes ...
Card check – U.S. moving in wrong direction
The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), a likely hot button for the Obama administration, would fundamentally alter the balance of power in the U.S. labor market and impose enormous costs on workers. Ironically, as America moves to fundamentally change the way unions are certified, other countries, like Canada, are moving ...