Archives: December 2008

Is Social Security a Ponzi Scheme? Response to Comments

Posted by: Michael Mandel on December 30, Categories: Growth

I've read through all the comments on my previous post, and I wanted to see if I could respond to some of them. In particular, a lot of people objected...

Will the Economic Crisis hit Asia Harder than the U.S.?

Posted by: Michael Mandel on December 28, Categories: Growth

The latest news out of Asia is not good. On December 26 the Japanese government announced that factory output fell by more than 8% in November, the biggest drop in...

Is Social Security a Ponzi Scheme?

Posted by: Michael Mandel on December 28, Categories: Growth

(This is the first in a series on technology and the crisis) In the aftermath of the Madoff implosion, quite a few people have pointed out the parallels between a...

Why Autos are Important

Posted by: Michael Mandel on December 27, Categories: Trade

The failures in the domestic auto industry really are a big cause of our trade problems. Take a look at this graph, which shows the cumulative merchandise trade deficit of...

Are the Yankees Evil? Or just unseemly?

Posted by: Michael Mandel on December 26, Categories: sports

I've taken a ten-day break from posting, but now I'm refreshed and ready to go. Let's warm up with something light and easy: The Yankees. For full transparency, I was...

Madoff and the SEC

Posted by: Michael Mandel on December 16, Categories: Financial markets

Here is a portion of a statement issued today by Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox: Since Commissioners were first informed of the Madoff investigation last week, the Commission...

Deflation and Economic Recovery

Posted by: Michael Mandel on December 16, Categories: Macro

I just did a story arguing that deflation might help economic recovery. Here's a piece: Is price deflation a sign of an accelerating economic downturn? History is not encouraging. Periods...

Madoff and the Fundamental Fallacy of the Global Economy

Posted by: Michael Mandel on December 15, Categories: Financial Crisis

I've written a new piece here on Madoff and the "fundamental fallacy of the global economy." Here's the beginning of it: For years, Bernie Madoff, all-around nice guy, pulled billions...

"Houston, We Have Our Scapegoats"

Posted by: Michael Mandel on December 13, Categories: Financial Crisis

So far this financial crisis has been marked by an unsatisfying search for a scapegoat or villain. So far Congress and the press have tried to pin the "villain" label...

How Many U.S. Jobs Does the Apple iPod Create?

Posted by: Michael Mandel on December 12, Categories: Labor Market

The answer: 13,920, including engineering and retail. But there are 27,250 iPod-related jobs created outside the U.S. That's according to a terrific new study called "Innovation and Job Creation in...

Intangible Sector Job Growth

Posted by: Michael Mandel on December 10, Categories: Labor Market

I just did a piece on job growth in the intangible sector. You can find it here....

Was the Trade Boom partly driven by cheap credit?

Posted by: Michael Mandel on December 08, Categories: Trade

I was just reading a report by Capital Economics on a decline in Chinese exports. They wrote ....strains have been growing in the system of trade finance that underpins global...

The jobs report

Posted by: Michael Mandel on December 08, Categories: Labor Market

Sorry for not posting on the job reports on Friday. I did a video and an BW.com story, and then had to pause to let it all sink in. Here's...

Why is real GDP growing in a recession?

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

As I noted yesterday, we have now been in recession for a year, but reported real GDP has actually risen. How can that be? I've looked a bit deeper into...

The Recession is A Year Old

Posted by: Michael Mandel on December 01, Categories: Macro

Yes, we have been in a recession for a year--even though real GDP is up. The current downturn began in December 2007, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research....