Political Economy category archive

When considering this:

Standard & Poor’s put the U.S. government on notice that it risks losing its AAA credit rating unless policy makers agree on a plan by 2013 to reduce budget deficits and the national debt.

. . . remember that these are the same folks who said the mortgage-backed securities, derivatives, and credit-default swaps were good things.

Steven M theorizes about why too much is never enough for the plutocracy. He sees an end of a sense of noblesse oblige amongst the willingness to plunder the poor and downtrodden. A nugget:

A few thoughts occur to me. I think the ruling class sees this as a zero-sum game, a Hobbesian war of each against all. It’s not that the elitists have contempt for us, it’s that they think every time we win, they lose. (In fact, I think if they’d just their boots off our necks, we might have a thriving middle-class economy as a result sooner or later, and they’d make a killing from what we had to spend.)

It also seems to me — as I think I’ve said before — that the rich see America the way drug dealers see an impoverished neighborhood: whatever damage they seem to be doing to their surroundings, they thrive, so they come to believe they’re thriving, at least in part, because they’ve turned the neighborhood into a hellhole.

Margaret Carlson comments at Bloomberg (emphasis added):

Yesterday, at long last, Obama called a spade a spade. He got to the black heart of the Republican budget plan going forward: They propose to afflict the afflicted, and comfort the comfortable, with a combination of draconian spending cuts that disproportionately hurt the middle and working classes and tax cuts that disproportionately benefit the wealthy, who are taxed at some of the lowest levels since the Great Depression.

Back above 400k:

Applications for jobless benefits rose 27,000 in the week ended April 9 to 412,000, the most in two months, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. Economists projected claims would be little changed at 380,000, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey. The increase in claims traditionally seen at the end of a quarter was larger than usual this year, a Labor Department spokesman said as the figures were released to the press.

Clarence Page dissects Paul Ryan’s (R–Sheriff of Nottingham) plan to take from the poor and give to the rich. A nugget:

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal Washington think tank, found Ryan’s budget plan would get about two-thirds of its more than $4 trillion in budget cuts over 10 years “from programs that serve people of limited means.” Those programs include Medicare, Medicaid, Pell grants, food stamps and others that serve the poor, elderly, disabled and low-income students.

Yet, in even more of a reverse Robin Hood move, the budget plan offers new tax breaks to corporations and higher-income taxpayers. Although income taxes would be stripped of numerous current deductions, top rates for individuals and businesses would be cut to 25 percent from 35 percent under the Ryan proposal.

entitlement (in-TIGHT-tul-ment) n, from the Republican: Any government program designed to help someone other than rich white men.

Examples:

Not entitlements: Oil depletion allowance, tax cuts for the rich.
Entitlement: Retirement pensions for firefighters, health care for old folks, tax cuts for the poor.

Slightly barely just a little bit better maybe:

The Labor Department said Thursday the number of people seeking benefits dropped 10,000 to 382,000 in the week ending April 2. That’s the third drop in four weeks.

The four-week average of applications, a less volatile measure, declined to 389,500. The average is just 1,000 above a two-year low that was reached three weeks ago.

Behind the numbers:

In order to be counted as unemployed, you have to say that you are looking for work. The unemployment rate did not fall because the unemployed had found jobs; rather, the unemployment rate fell because people have given up looking for work. Only in Washington would this be hailed as good news.

Follow the link for details.

I missed the weekly unemployment figures, having spent most of the last two days on the road, and I haven’t looked them up yet.

The monthly figures are slightly encouraging in a lukewarm king of way. From Bloomberg:

Payrolls increased by 216,000 workers last month after a revised 194,000 gain the prior month, the Labor Department said today in Washington. Economists projected a March gain of 190,000, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey. The jobless rate dropped from 8.9 percent in February (to 8.8 percent–ed.), the fourth straight decrease.

Pretty much holding steady:

Jobless claims declined by 5,000 to 382,000 in the week ended March 19, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington, in line with the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. The total number of people receiving benefits dropped to the lowest level in almost three years.

Flipped at settlement.

Via Tampa Bay dot com.

Back under 400k. Appears to be a very anemic slightly positive trend:

Applications for jobless benefits decreased 16,000 in the period ended March 12 to 385,000, in line with the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey, Labor Department figures showed today. The four-week average of claims dropped to the lowest level since July 2008. The number of people on unemployment benefit rolls fell, while those getting extended payments rose.

Fewer firings along with increased hiring and a lower unemployment rate may help lift household spending, which accounts for 70 percent of the economy. Federal Reserve policy makers this week said the expansion is getting stronger and the labor market is “improving gradually.”

Foreclosures feed the market in my area:

Almost 700 existing homes sold last month, up 3 percent from January and 20 percent from a year ago, REIN reported. Nearly three of every seven homes sold – or 42 percent – were bank-owned or were sold for less than the seller owed on the mortgage.

Gotta make those sales.

Jamelle Boule comments briefly and incisively on the backwards nature of the budget debate.

Not good, not terrible.

Applications for first-time unemployment benefits increased by 26,000 to 397,000 in the week ended March 5, Labor Department figures showed today. Economists forecast claims would climb to 376,000, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey. The total number of people receiving benefits in the prior week fell to the lowest since October 2008.

More at the link.

Via Glomarization.

Paul Krugman on the phony balance of “on-one-hand-on-the-other-hand” (emphasis added):

Some have asked if there aren’t conservative sites I read regularly. Well, no. I will read anything I’ve been informed about that’s either interesting or revealing; but I don’t know of any economics or politics sites on that side that regularly provide analysis or information I need to take seriously. I know we’re supposed to pretend that both sides always have a point; but the truth is that most of the time they don’t. The parties are not equally irresponsible; Rachel Maddow isn’t Glenn Beck; and a conservative blog, almost by definition, is a blog written by someone who chooses not to notice that asymmetry. And life is short …

Via Bob Cesca.

At least one industry is doing okay.

Liquor company Brown-Forman Corp. posted a 30 percent increase in its third-quarter profit on Tuesday, beating Wall Street estimates on the strength of robust international sales and a sales spike for its Jack Daniel’s and el Jimador brands.

Its shares jumped 7 percent in morning trading.

Via BartCop.