Originally published in the New York Times EUROPE’S economic problems are growing steadily worse, with unemployment in parts of the Continent now above the level reached in the United States during the Great Depression. Meanwhile, policy makers dither over solutions. Last week, the European Central Bank cut interest rates by a meager quarter of a […]
Originally published in the New York Times On its face, Friday’s announcement that the nation’s gross domestic product expanded at a 2.5 percent annual rate in the first quarter was good news, following as it did an only marginally positive result for the previous three-month period. But, alas, that rosy headline figure masked disturbing signs: […]
Originally published in the New York Times President Obama’s new budget, released on Wednesday, is stuffed with constructive ideas. It bravely outlines concrete steps to begin fixing Social Security. It flouts today’s all-deficit-cutting, all-the-time mentality with important proposals for fresh spending on infrastructure and universal prekindergarten education. It includes detailed plans to close tax loopholes […]
Originally published in the New York Times Not surprisingly, troubled economic times often beget proselytizers of wacky, extreme ideas. The stagflation of the 1970s blessed us with damaging wage and price controls and the utterly counterintuitive supply-side notion — famously drawn on a napkin — that cutting taxes would lead to higher tax revenues. The […]
New York Times
Slapping a catchy acronym like the JOBS Act on a piece of legislation makes it more difficult for politicians to oppose it — and indeed that’s what happened with the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act.
New York Times
To hear Republicans spin it, the sequester is no big deal — a seemingly tiny 2.3 percent reduction in federal spending. Jack Welch, the former head of General Electric, argues that any C.E.O. who can’t cut 2.3 percent from his company’s expenses should be fired.
New York Times
NEARLY four years after we were enlisted to fight the financial and auto-industry crisis, a small band of Treasury veterans returned one recent evening to the department’s imposing building in Washington, a neo-Classical-style structure bookended by statues of Alexander Hamilton and Albert Gallatin and a stone’s throw from the White House.
New York Times
As recently as 2006, when I first visited India and China, the economic race was on, with heavy bets being placed on which one would win the developing world sweepstakes.
Many Westerners fervently hoped that a democratic country would triumph economically over an autocratic regime.
Now the contest is emphatically over. China has lunged into the 21st century, while India is still lurching toward it.
New York Times
The weak economy, widening income inequality, gridlock in Congress and a presidential election: Those were perhaps the dominant economic and political themes of 2012. To supplement the torrent of rhetoric, I offer charts to help provide facts and context for the debate around these important issues. Below are nine of my favorites from the past year.
New York Times
Like Willy the whale, General Motors has finally been freed – or nearly so.
Today’s announcement that the Treasury Department had agreed on a process to extricate the government from its ownership stake in G.M., the world’s largest automaker, is welcome news.
