Recession or not, there’s trouble ahead
America’s “will they, won’t they?” relationship with the next recession is reaching a fever pitch; a recent survey by the National Association for Business Economics finds that nearly 75% of...
Category: Economy
Setbacks in Venezuela’s economy: sanctions by the US and the impact on oil
In the early 2000s, Venezuela was living an extensive oil bonanza. With Chávez in power, expenses were also increased when granting bonds to part of the population, making investments in projects...
Trump, the Fed, and the American Worker
The Federal Reserve isn’t often as politicized as it is today. The last two years have seen the near-nomination of two know-nothings, Stephen Moore and Herman Cain, to the Federal Open Market...
The “Wage Puzzle”: How Companies Keep Employee Pay Low
Among the more pessimistic and realistic of the economic commentators, questions regarding the long-term stagnation of wages has become a topic of serious interest. Why, when the American economy is...
Basking in reflected glory and cutting off reflected failure: The Trump presidency
This week marks the 10th anniversary of the onset of the 2008 financial crisis, and Trump is taking advantage of it to claim credit for the current state of the U.S. economy — and on the other side...
Auf Wiedersehen to Germany’s Britons
Time was you couldn’t move for Brits in Germany. First in military deployments in the Cold War, young British men came to Germany in the tens of thousands. Then in the late 1970s and early 1980s,...
Why an “Uber for carers” could be a dangerous idea
I am a firm believer in the power of technology to do good for the world. In the earlier days of the web, when you could go on The Hunger Site and click a button to feed somebody who was hungry, I...
The Republicans are lying about the effects of their tax cut
Some proponents of the recently passed tax cut bill argue that cutting the corporate tax rate caused major corporations to provide bonuses, raise hourly wages, add to 401k and other retirement plans,...
Trump’s Fed Chair: The Unqualified Mr. Ordinary
Come February, Janet Yellen will not be returning as Chair of the Federal Reserve. That title will belong to monetary moderate Jerome Powell, who was recently chosen by Donald Trump to replace...
Why Viral Videos Of Poor Kids Are Just Modern-day Poverty Porn
Humans have been enjoying poverty porn for millennia, and the West has refined it to an elevated art, with no nation more infamous for it than the United States. These consumers drool over pictures...