government

Here’s a good segment from CNBC with an interview from two city mayors, the mayor of El Centro, CA that has 26.9% unemployment, the highest in the nation, and the mayor of Flint, MI, which is imploding due to the decline in the U.S. car…

It’s not just California.  Tax revenue is falling everywhere. State income-tax revenue fell 26% in the first four months of 2009 compared to the same period last year, according to a survey of states by the nonprofit Nelson A.…

The video below comes via FORA.tv (FORA stands for Feed Your Inner Genius).  It is of Christina Romer making the case for Obama’s health care plan at the Commonwealth Club.  This video runs over one hour, and so, should give you a fairly…

The Washington Post is reporting that the Obama administration has rejected initial pleas from the State of California for U.S. Government aid. However, the post report reveals that Tim Geithner told California it must make get its fiscal…

Yesterday, I argued that the United States faced a policy dilemma in avoiding debt deflationary forces while maintaining fiscal prudence. The reality is that President Obama faces political constraints in Washington right now regarding…

Alan Blinder, David Leonhardt, and Alan Auerbach talk about deficits.  Leonhardt had a well-regarded piece in the New York Times on the issue linked below. There are two basic truths about the enormous deficits that the federal…

The drama at Bank of America continues with Ken Lewis testifying before Congress today.  Most of the events surround claims by Lewis that he was coerced into doing the Merrill deal by Hank Paulson and Ben Bernanke.   I…

I was on the BBC yesterday talking autos and my commentary was almost entirely political.  So, as we await the likely General Motors bankruptcy, I think it bears discussing how political this process has been and will continue to be.…

Today, I came across two attempts to clarify allegedly misleading articles in the press. Both clarifications were made in regard to how the banking system clean-up in the U.S. is proceeding. I will present them to you in as neutral a tone…

Here is the CNBC video of the news (with a lot more at the end on the stress tests): And FT reports: Stephen Friedman, the chairman of the New York Federal Reserve has resigned from his post with immediate effect following his…