Just-A-Small-Town-Country-Boy

I really do want to believe in the economy...

2012-01-19T16:55:00.000-05:00

Author's Note: Please take a few minutes and Join the Firedoglake Membership Program today. FDL provides the tools that help me and others extend our reach with our rants so we need to support FDL when we can. In the coming up on two years that I have been writing about the economy, jobs, un and underemployment at this little corner of the Intertoobz, I've tried to admit when my predictions

They were just kids, right Governor Perry?

2012-01-16T13:28:00.000-05:00

Author's Note: Please take a few minutes and Join the Firedoglake Membership Program today. FDL provides the tools that help me and others extend our reach with our rants so we need to support FDL when we can. I never know for sure what will set off my Harrumph Harrumph meter. Today's candidate is the response by Governor Perry to the video of the Marines urinating on dead bodies in

Capitalists: Venture vs. Vulture

2012-01-14T13:48:00.000-05:00

Author's Note: Please take a few minutes and Join the Firedoglake Membership Program today. FDL provides the tools that help me and others extend our reach with our rants so we need to support FDL when we can. So there I was, surfing around the intertoobz this morning when I came across this headline at CNN:Stop vilifying venture capitalistsI have to admit, I was a bit taken aback at the

Improvement, yes, but not that much improvement

2012-01-11T15:32:00.000-05:00

Author's Note: Please take a few minutes and Join the Firedoglake Membership Program today. FDL provides the tools that help me and others extend our reach with our rants so we need to support FDL when we can. OK, so you might have noticed a few headlines the last few days talking about how the economy is getting better, unemployment is dropping, and we're all going to win Powerball tonight

Re-arranging the Deck Chairs Is Not a Net Positive

2011-12-14T16:12:00.000-05:00

Author's Note: Please take a few minutes and Join the Firedoglake Membership Program today. FDL provides the tools that help me and others extend our reach with our rants so we need to support FDL when we can. So here we are. It is the middle of December 2011. The US (and global) economies still suck. The Federal Reserve continues to wring its hands and do pretty much nothing about

Sorry, but these numbers do not add up

2011-12-02T13:30:00.001-05:00

Author's Note: Please take a few minutes and Join the Firedoglake Membership Program today. FDL provides the tools that help me and others extend our reach with our rants so we need to support FDL when we can. So, you may have noticed that the November jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics is out today (via CNN):Hiring accelerated in November, and the unemployment rate unexpectedly

Corruption or Incompetence; the Economic Effects Seem the Same

2011-11-30T10:47:00.001-05:00

Author's Note: Please take a few minutes and Join the Firedoglake Membership Program today. FDL provides the tools that help me and others extend our reach with our rants so we need to support FDL when we can. One of the on-going arguments across the blogosphere and even the entire world is whether the economic problems of the last ten years are more related to incompetence or basic corruption

Things to not be thankful for

2011-11-24T13:42:00.001-05:00

Author's Note: Please take a few minutes and Join the Firedoglake Membership Program today. FDL provides the tools that help me and others extend our reach with our rants so we need to support FDL when we can. I, like so many of us, have much to be thankful for on this Thanksgiving 2011. I have the love of my family, even when we may not see each other for years at a time. I have my friends

Occupy: Is this a wise use of resources?

2011-11-16T10:13:00.001-05:00

Author's Note: Please take a few minutes and Join the Firedoglake Membership Program today. FDL provides the tools that help me and others extend our reach with our rants so we need to support FDL when we can. I, as have many of us, have been following the various #Occupy efforts with some interest. News coverage asking the plaintive whine "but what do they WANT?" combined with all the

You know how bad you think things are? They're worse than that.

2011-10-21T14:18:00.000-04:00

Author's Note: Please take a few minutes and Join the Firedoglake Membership Program today. FDL provides the tools that help me and others extend our reach with our rants so we need to support FDL when we can. I was doing my normal review of news web sites this morning when I came across this headline at the Washington Post:The median U.S. wage in 2010 was just $26,363 At first I was shocked

Only MOTUs and Banksters get TARPs.

2011-10-18T11:15:00.000-04:00

Author's Note: Please take a few minutes and Join the Firedoglake Membership Program today. FDL provides the tools that help me and others extend our reach with our rants so we need to support FDL when we can. So there I was this morning, having completed my daily check for jobs in my chosen field of Software Quality Assurance and Testing (I do wish it would take longer than five minutes as

Limited Good Economic News Won't Last

2011-09-30T13:11:00.000-04:00

Author's Note: Please take a few minutes and Join the Firedoglake Membership Program today. FDL provides the tools that help me and others extend our reach with our rants so we need to support FDL when we can. You might have seen some headlines from yesterday on the weekly report of Initial Unemployment claims about those claims "falling sharply" (Reuters headline phrase):Applications for

These are only problems for the top 1%

2011-09-28T15:10:00.000-04:00

Author's Note: Please take a few minutes and Join the Firedoglake Membership Program today. FDL provides the tools that help me and others extend our reach with our rants so we need to support FDL when we can. If you read me often enough, you have probably noticed that I tend to check various news and opinion sites throughout the TradMed each morning, after I've spent a few minutes reviewing

Wait! I thought the South was where all the jobs are!

2011-09-27T15:31:00.003-04:00

Author's Note: Please take a few minutes and Join the Firedoglake Membership Program today. FDL provides the tools that help me and others extend our reach with our rants so we need to support FDL when we can. Jobs. Although the official time frame for "The Great Recession" was December 2007 through June 2009, for the millions of long term un and underemployed, the daily reality is that not

Here Is Class Warfare

2011-09-19T11:58:00.004-04:00

Author's Note: Please take a few minutes and Join the Firedoglake Membership Program today. FDL provides the tools that help me and others extend our reach with our rants so we need to support FDL when we can.So apparently, the phrase of the week from Republicans is "Class Warfare!" as a response to President Obama's proposal for a new Millionaire's Minimum Tax. Paul Ryan and Lindsey Graham

Regulations Are an Opportunity for Job Creating Innovation

2011-09-17T07:12:00.006-04:00

Author's Note: Please take a few minutes and Join the Firedoglake Membership Program today. FDL provides the tools that help me and others extend our reach with our rants so we need to support FDL when we can.It is an article of faith among Republicans (and far too many Democrats) that all those pesky "regulations" are to blame for the lack of jobs today and the ongoing economic slowdown. Just

Economists Who Are Always 'Surprised' Should Re-Think Their Models and Assumptions

2011-09-15T10:30:00.004-04:00

Author's Note: Please take a few minutes and Join the Firedoglake Membership Program today. FDL provides the tools that help me and others extend our reach with our rants so we need to support FDL when we can.Today's report of Initial Unemployment Claims from last week is out and once again, the economists are "surprised" at the figures reported (via Reuters):The number of Americans filing new

A Personal Reflection on September 11, 2001

2011-09-09T13:43:00.004-04:00

Author's Note: Please take a few minutes and Join the Firedoglake Membership Program today. FDL provides the tools that help me and others extend our reach with our rants so we need to support FDL when we can.On Tuesday morning, September 11, 2001, I was living in Springfield, IL. I had been laid off from my previous employer back at the end of July so my usual routine was to get up, make the

Keep the Expectations Low - While Expecting To Be Disappointed

2011-09-08T13:04:00.005-04:00

Author's Note: Please take a few minutes and Join the Firedoglake Membership Program today. FDL provides the tools that help me and others extend our reach with our rants so we need to support FDL when we can.So, here we are, waiting for President Obama to give his long awaited "Jobs" speech tonight. However, from the news reports and "analyses" in the TradMed speculating on the content and

Once a Year Speeches Do Not Mean Support for Workers

2011-09-05T11:41:00.004-04:00

Author's Note: Please take a few minutes and Join the Firedoglake Membership Program today. FDL provides the tools that help me and others extend our reach with our rants so we need to support FDL when we can. Today is Monday, September 5, 2011. Since it is the first Monday of September, it is the national holiday known as Labor Day. Supposedly, it is the day when our politicians and pundits

If Beltway Pols Were 1st Responders, No Foundations Would Be Saved

2011-08-28T12:20:00.005-04:00

Author's Note: Please take a few minutes and Join the Firedoglake Membership Program today. FDL provides the tools that help me and others extend our reach with our rants so we need to support FDL when we can. So here we are, coming to the end of another month with limited economic growth. Friday (August 26), the Commerce Department downgraded the second quarter US Gross Domestic Product (GDP

Trickle Down Exists, Just Not as Commonly Supposed

2011-08-23T09:00:00.003-04:00

Author's Note: Please take a few minutes and Join the Firedoglake Membership Program today. FDL provides the tools that help me and others extend our reach with our rants so we need to support FDL when we can. Trickle down economics is the phrase that has often been supplied to describe whatever current flavor of economics theory being propounded that says cutting taxes for the well-to-do is

So where exactly is that good economic news?

2011-08-18T08:42:00.007-04:00

Author's Note: Please take a few minutes and Join the Firedoglake Membership Program today. FDL provides the tools that help me and others extend our reach with our rants so we need to support FDL when we can. Well, here we go again. As usual, the past couple of weeks there have been a few articles on how the economy really isn't THAT bad. In fact, that was a large part of the title of this

Grasping at Straws on the Economy

2011-08-06T12:06:00.004-04:00

Author's Note: Please take a few minutes and Join the Firedoglake Membership Program today. FDL provides the tools that help me and others extend our reach with our rants so we need to support FDL when we can.So, I guess it has been a rather eventful week in the world economy and the lives of the Beltway Village Idiots Politicians, Pundits, and Courtiers. I'll let Paul Krugman and Jane Hamsher

"So be it"

2011-07-30T09:50:00.005-04:00

Author's Note: Please take a few minutes and Join the Firedoglake Membership Program today. FDL provides the tools that help me and others extend our reach with our rants so we need to support FDL when we can.Yesterday, I wrote about my prediction for an "official" double-dip recession. One of the points I covered was the release by the Commerce Department of the second quarter GDP figures (