Archives: January 2008

Bad productivity growth

Posted by: Michael Mandel on January 30, Categories: Macro

Just to point out in this morning's GDP report, the increase in nonfarm business gross value added--which is the numerator for productivity--was only 0.4%. Aggregate hours rose at a 1.1%...

How Real Was the Prosperity?

Posted by: Michael Mandel on January 24, Categories: Growth

My latest cover story, How Real Was the Prosperity?: But the underlying problems that ail the markets and the economy cannot be waved away by the Fed's magic wand. In...

The Fed's Rate Cut

Posted by: Michael Mandel on January 22, Categories: The Fed

The Fed cutting rates this morning by 0.75 percentage points will help some things but not others. The central bank should be able to pump enough liquidity into the financial...

Don't the candidates care about Innovation?

Posted by: Michael Mandel on January 18, Categories: Future

John Kao writes It is January 18, 2008, the presidential campaign has been in full swing for longer than most of us would like to admit, and the "innovation" issue...

Innovation or Recession?

Posted by: Michael Mandel on January 18, Categories: Growth

While everyone is kvetching about recession today, the Commerce Department will be talking about the future. This morning it willbe releasing a new report about how to revamp the economic...

Why Health and Education Could Hold off the Recession

Posted by: Michael Mandel on January 18, Categories: Macro

From my new story this week: there's a surprising force that could keep the bottom from falling out of the economy: the $3.5 trillion health and education job machine, which...

The Market Bunny of Doom

Posted by: Michael Mandel on January 17, Categories: Financial markets

I think it's time for the return of the market bunny of doom. This may be the beginning of the consumer implosion....

Consumer Crunch Watch: Retail Sales

Posted by: Michael Mandel on January 11, Categories: Macro

Only the beginning, I think. From today's NYT: The nation’s big retail chains, a closely watched barometer of economic health, reported dreary December sales on Thursday, which may stoke fears...

New Hampshire primary

Posted by: Michael Mandel on January 09, Categories: Political Economy

I don't usually write about politics (on purpose), but I had to laugh at the way all the pundits got it wrong. The lesson: Just because everyone says it's true,...

Starbucks and the Consumer Crunch

Posted by: Michael Mandel on January 08, Categories: Macro

My family likes Starbucks. My wife gets her customized drink from the local Starbucks at least once a day, and often twice (triple expresso, half caf, foam on the top,...

Will Healthcare Save the Country from Recession?

Posted by: Michael Mandel on January 04, Categories: Labor Market

I wrote this story in September 2006. The headline reads "What's Really Propping Up the Economy: Health care has added 1.7 million jobs since 2001. The rest of the...