Archives: April 2008

Should Bernanke Keep Cutting? Yes

Posted by: Michael Mandel on April 28, Categories: The Fed

We live in a boom and bust world--and it's not the Fed's fault. As we wait to see what the Fed does on Wednesday, one thing is clear to me:...

What About Energy?

Posted by: Michael Mandel on April 23, Categories: Future

We all know that one of the biggest problems going forward is how to meet the energy needs of the world, while still reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases. This...

The Promise of Real Healthcare

Posted by: Michael Mandel on April 22, Categories: Health

Next in my series of optimistic posts: healthcare. There’s been a lot of bad news lately about healthcare. A new study just came out showing that life expectancy at birth...

Throw Malthus Off the Bus!

Posted by: Michael Mandel on April 21, Categories: Future

This is the opener in my week of optimistic posts. And it’s a good time to do it, given the multifaceted surge of pessimism. One branch of pessimism is environmental/natural...

BLS report shows low inflation in services

Posted by: Michael Mandel on April 15, Categories: Macro

This morning the BLS reported that the producer prices of finished goods jumped by 1.1% in March, putting them up by 6.9% over the past year. This was the headline...

A Week of Optimistic Posts

Posted by: Michael Mandel on April 14, Categories: Macro

Next week, that is. I've been too gloomy around here lately...violates my natural upbeat disposition. So next week (starting April 21), I promise a full five days of optimistic posts.*...

Consumers nowhere near bottom

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

I don't like being negative. I'm an upbeat and optimistic person by nature. But when it comes to consumer spending, things have a lot further to fall before they hit...

Global Recession?

Posted by: Michael Mandel on April 09, Categories: Growth

The International Monetary Fund has come out with its latest set of forecasts of the world economy. The report says at one point: The IMF staff now sees a 25...

A recession for the less educated--so far

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

This morning's employment report leaves no doubt that we are in a recession, with less-educated workers being hardest hit so far. Private sector employment has fallen for four straight months,...

Too Much Stuff? Or Too Little Income?

Posted by: Michael Mandel on April 02, Categories: Macro

I've been writing about the astonishing acceleration of household borrowing since 2000 (see this post here). Here's the question. Are Americans in debt because they've been buying too much stuff?...