Econophile's blog

The President's economic team doesn't seem to know how to fix the economy. Here are some immediate things he can do to turn it around, quickly. But he has to ignore his advisers.

No matter how the Obama Administration tries to spin it, employment numbers are soft and getting softer. There do not appear to be any basic economic factors that would cause employment to rise. Here is a look behind the numbers.

There are a lot of indicators that show continuing weakness in the economy which will lead to declines in output. Key indicators to me are the decline in factory orders and the build-up of inventories. I expect this trend to continue.

If you listen to most economists they seem to have an Orwellian Newspeak version of economics which turns everything on its head. What we thought was good economic behavior is now bad economic behavior according to them. They say we should be spending not saving. Consumers aren't listening. They are saving because they know that good is good and bad is bad.

As if the Fannie and Freddie debacle wasn't enough, two Fed economists are now proposing that the government insure the entire ABS market. Of course they have a foolproof scheme that won't repeat the old mistakes. This is not speculation. It is a serious proposal that is being considered as part of the discussions about the future of the GSEs

The latest numbers on housing and jobs show that the underlying causes that crashed the economy have not been resolved and the problems that the Feds tried to paper over are re-emerging.

This is an article I wrote for a newspaper that is a reprise of my reasoning why I think we are headed for stagflation. The article will appear next week, but it will be familiar stuff for my readers.

Dear Pragmatic Idealist: I don't know where you get your ideas about Austrian theory, but they are completely wrong.

Money supply is declining, ZIRP and QE haven't worked, so what's the Fed supposed to do? More of the same? This article takes a look why banks are critical for an economic recovery and why the government has done everything they can to prevent it. Here is Part 2 of 2 and where I think we're headed.

Money supply is declining, ZIRP and QE hasn't worked, so what's the Fed supposed to do? More of the same? This article takes a look at banks and their role in the money supply and credit process, what banks are actually doing, and why they are critical for an economic recovery. The article comes in two parts. Here is Part 1.

I am getting requests for a PDF download of the entire article, "The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act: The Triumph of Crony Capitalism." You will find the link here.

Until I began to examine the Dodd-Frank financial overhaul bill I had no idea that it would so significantly change the direction of the United States. It's scope is so vast and pervasive that it is difficult to grasp its totality. I wrote this article to try to explain this and why I believe it is so important for us to understand it. This is the final part of this four part series. I examine the consequences of Dodd-Frank.

Until I began to examine the Dodd-Frank financial overhaul bill I had no idea that it would so significantly change the direction of the United States. It's scope is so vast and pervasive that it is difficult to grasp its totality. I wrote this article to try to explain this and why I believe it is so important for us to understand it. Because of its complexity it was not possible to do this briefly, so I wrote this major "white paper" and divided it into four parts to make it easier to digest. Please stick with me for the next few days; your eyes will be opened. This is Part 3 of 4.

Until I began to examine the Dodd-Frank financial overhaul bill I had no idea that it would so significantly change the direction of the United States. It's scope is so vast and pervasive that it is difficult to grasp its totality. I wrote this article to try to explain this and why I believe it is so important for us to understand it. Because of its complexity it was not possible to do this briefly, so I wrote this major "white paper" and divided it into four parts to make it easier to digest. Please stick with me for the next few days; your eyes will be opened. This is Part 2.

Until I began to examine the Dodd-Frank financial overhaul bill I had no idea that it would so significantly change the direction of the United States. It's scope is so vast and pervasive that it is difficult to grasp its totality. I wrote this article to try to explain this and why I believe it is so important for us to understand it. Because of its complexity it was not possible to do this briefly, so I wrote this major "white paper" and divided it into four parts to make it easier to digest. Please stick with me for the next four days; your eyes will be opened.