New York Times (December 30)
“Glory, glory, hallelujah! New Year’s Day is about to bring New Yorkers what many of their ancestors never lived to see: the opening of the Second Avenue subway.” Though it is set to open on schedule, the line is really “nearly a century overdue. It was dreamed up in the 1920s, was derailed by the Great Depression, by wars overseas and political battles at home, by the 1970s fiscal crisis, by dithering, distractions, diverted funds and the inertia that keeps big infrastructure projects forever on the drawing board.”
Tags: Ancestors, Great Depression, Hallelujah, Infrastructure, New York, Overdue, Subway
Bloomberg (November 24)
“Youthful optimism can be hard to find in Japan, where millennials rank as the gloomiest of those in the world’s biggest economies.” Less than 40% of Japan’s millennials are optimistic about the future, “making them the most pessimistic in 18 countries surveyed by ManpowerGroup. They’re even more downbeat than young Greeks, who have suffered Great Depression-like conditions and political upheaval in recent years.”
Tags: Downbeat, Future, Gloomiest, Great Depression, Greeks, Japan, ManpowerGroup, Millennials, Optimism, Pessimistic, Upheaval
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
New York Times (September 28)
“The world has barely dug out of recession and the global economy is again slowing dangerously. Most leaders seem eager to make things even worse.” China should let its currency rise. The U.S., Germany, Britain and other rich countries should be spending to spur growth. Instead, everyone seems to be doing exactly the wrong thing, which “is what caused the Great Depression.”
“The world has barely dug out of recession and the global economy is again slowing dangerously. Most leaders seem eager to make things even worse.” China should let its currency rise. The U.S., Germany, Britain and other rich countries should be spending to spur growth. Instead, everyone seems to be doing exactly the wrong thing, which “is what caused the Great Depression.”
Tags: Currency, Economy, Great Depression, Growth, Spending
New York Times (June 29)
The world is “now conducting a dangerous experiment.” An article by David Leonhardt compares current moves to cut government spending and raise taxes with what happened during the Great Depression, when the fragile recovery was upset. Though there are striking similarities, there is room to hope that “today’s situation is different enough to assure a different outcome.”
Tags: Government spending, Great Depression, Recovery, Tax
