The implementation instructions for the stimulus bill requires all agencies to provide an RSS feed of spending. That’s transparency you can believe in.
Tag Archives: economy
Our vacant suburbs.
In the NYT, Allison Arieff ponders what to do with the vast swaths of vacant suburbia the housing bubble has left us with. Try to turn them into apartments? De-construct them and reuse the materials? Attempt to convert whole streets into proper, mixed-use areas?
A nation turns to frugality.
I read a pair of articles about the economy today that are surely bad news, but that give me hope in the long run. The New York Times reports that carmakers worry that this is the new normal, that the go-go car sales day of the past 15 years was a bubble. This was the …
Incentives for G.M., not a bailout.
Instead of letting G.M. go bankrupt, why not give them a bailout with strings? Say, $1B for every additional MPG/year in CAFE standards. If they agree to hit the 32 MPG mark in 2011, they get $1B. 33 MPG, they get $2B. 34 MPG in 2012, they get $2B. Etc.
The economy has a well-known liberal bias.
Tommy McCall provides these data and a great chart in today’s New York Times: As of Friday, a $10,000 investment in the S.& P. stock market index would have grown to $11,733 if invested under Republican presidents only, although that would be $51,211 if we exclude Herbert Hoover’s presidency during the Great Depression. Invested under …
Continue reading “The economy has a well-known liberal bias.”
This American Bailout.
I have found that I know significantly more than your average joe about the cause of the nation’s financial meltdown. That is wholly attributable to spending one hour listening to “The Giant Pool of Money,” This American Life’s May episode entirely about the topic. I recommend in the strongest possible terms that you listen to …
“We just wanted to choose a really large number.”
Forbes.com asks why the bailout will cost $700B: “It’s not based on any particular data point,” a Treasury spokeswoman told Forbes.com Tuesday. “We just wanted to choose a really large number.” It’s like our government is run by dart-throwing monkeys. (Via John Athayde)
Our socialist president?
Is it possible that one of the most radically-right governments in ages is advocating one of the biggest step towards socialism that this country has taken in generations? President Bush has nationalized the nation’s largest mortgage provider and insurance company. (For contrast, imagine President Obama demanding that Congress approve the government take over and nationalize …
This financial bailout plan is fishy.
For the record, I think this financial bailout plan is scary and probably trouble. I have no patience for this business of giving unchecked power to the executive branch—I don’t care who wins this election. The rapidity with which this plan and this bill were put together makes me suspicious, in the same way that …
“The economy, stupid.”
Reader FW writes: I was curious about the stock market’s performance during the Clinton era vs the Bush era so I looked up historical Dow Jones Industrial Average data. I thought you might be interested in the results. 11/02/92 – Last market close before 1992 election 3262.21 11/06/00 – Last market close before 2000 election …