Financial Times (July 8)
“If the eurozone did not exist, the world would be focused on America’s recovery problem.” With unemployment so high and Treasuries so low, Congress should be utilizing fiscal stimulus. Since they’re not going to, the Fed should step in with quantitative easing. “Last month’s jobs report confirmed that the US recovery is stalling for the third year in a row….The case is now strong enough for the Fed to embark on a QE3 asset-purchase programme at its next meeting at the end of July.”
Wall Street Journal (March 13, 2012)
Is California a Greek tragedy in the making? “The state lurches from fiscal tragedy to fiscal farce, running deficits in good times as well as bad.” Spending has soared and deficits are routine. Making the problem worse, “California’s economy, which used to outperform the rest of the country, now substantially underperforms. The unemployment rate, at 10.9%, is higher than every other state except Nevada and Rhode Island. With 12% of America’s population, California has one third of the nation’s welfare recipients.”
Tags: California, Deficit, Economy, Greece, Unemployment, Welfare
Wall Street Journal (February 6, 2012)
“It’s hard to keep the U.S. economy down…. Employers added 243,000 net new jobs in January.” At just 8.3%, unemployment fell to the lowest rate since February 2009. But the durability of the economic recovery remains to be seen. “The job growth this time is stronger, though GDP growth is still well below the pace of a normal recovery. Even with the recent gains, this is also by far the worst jobs recovery since the Great Depression.”
“It’s hard to keep the U.S. economy down…. Employers added 243,000 net new jobs in January.” At just 8.3%, unemployment fell to the lowest rate since February 2009. But the durability of the economic recovery remains to be seen. “The job growth this time is stronger, though GDP growth is still well below the pace of a normal recovery. Even with the recent gains, this is also by far the worst jobs recovery since the Great Depression.”
Tags: Employment, GDP, Great Depression, U.S., Unemployment
Wall Street Journal (January 9, 2012)
Unemployment in the U.S. dropped to 8.5%, the lowest level since early 2009. While hopes are growing of sustained recovery, “the country’s prolonged struggle with unemployment will leave scars that are likely to remain for years, if not generations.”
Tags: Recovery, Scars, U.S., Unemployment
New York Times (November 8)
“Is there reason to fear that Americans will save too assiduously, as the Japanese did…to the point where the economy never goes back to what we consider normal?” The experts are divided. University of Tokyo professor Takatoshi Ito states, “Japan cannot be held up as a positive role model.” M.I.T. Sloan professor Simon Johnson points out, “Japan never experienced high unemployment. Perhaps we should envy and attempt to learn from their experience, rather than disparaging it.” And Morgan Stanley’s Stephen S. Roach asserts “it’s far too late to argue that the U.S. economy hasn’t fallen into a Japanese-like quagmire. Like Japan, we allowed asset bubbles to distort our real economy….”
New York Times (August 14)
There is “a growing gloom for states and cities.” Struggling to balance budgets, city and state governments have cut 577,000 jobs since 2008. “Washington should have been trying to find a way to help states avoid the layoffs and cutbacks…. Instead, it seems to be doing everything possible to make the situation worse.” This includes “a budget deal that will probably lead to a significant reduction in federal aid; a bond downgrade that could eventually trickle down to the local and state level, making borrowing more expensive; and a stock market plunge that is bleeding state employee pension funds.”
Tags: Budgets, Cities, Local governments, Pension funds, States, U.S., Unemployment
The Daily Telegraph (August 3)
In the UK, “unemployment will be permanently higher than its pre-recession level once the economy is back to full strength due to the ‘scar’ left by the financial crisis.” Full employment will now be achieved when unemployment reaches 6.2%. Before the crisis, this was 5.25%. Findings by the respected National Institute of Economic & Social Research (NIESR) suggest “an increase of that size would put 300,000 more people permanently on the dole.”
Tags: Financial Criss, Full employment, UK, Unemployment
Wall Street Journal (July 9)
Unemployment is a lagging indicator. That is perhaps “the best that can be said for yesterday’s June jobs report.”Just18,000 new jobs were created and the jobless rate increased to 9.2%. If employment is about to turn the corner, it will be none too soon. “In this recovery we are still seven million jobs below peak employment in 2008.”
Tags: Jobs, Recession, U.S., Unemployment
Wall Street Journal (July 1)
Summer jobs have long been a rite of passage for teenagers, but the percentage of 16-19 year-olds working has dropped to the lowest level since records began in 1948. “Only 24% of teens, one in four, have jobs, compared to 42% as recently as the summer of 2001.” This is due to partly to recession, partly to changing parent expectations, but the Wall Street Journal lays most of the blame on the minimum wage which Congress raised to “$7.25 an hour in 2009 from $5.15 in 2007.” As a result, “millions of kids will spend the summer playing computer games or hanging out” instead of “learning valuable job skills.”
Tags: Job skills, Minimum wage, Summer, Teenagers, Unemployment
Time (June 16, 2011)
A year of austerity has left many Greeks nearly broke or unemployed, “and the debt-ridden country no better off.” Greece now has the ignominy of holding the world’s lowest debt rating, following S&P’s most recent downgrade on June 13. Athen’s Syntagma Square (Constitution Square) has become the daily scene of protests and riots. The government appears near dead, with neither major party able to offer leadership. It’s difficult “to see any clear champion for the millions of Greeks struggling to get by.”
A year of austerity has left many Greeks nearly broke or unemployed, “and the debt-ridden country no better off.” Greece now has the ignominy of holding the world’s lowest debt rating, following S&P’s most recent downgrade on June 13. Athen’s Syntagma Square (Constitution Square) has become the daily scene of protests and riots. The government appears near dead, with neither major party able to offer leadership. It’s difficult “to see any clear champion for the millions of Greeks struggling to get by.”
Tags: Debt, Downgrade, Government, Greece, S&P, Unemployment
