We have revised the outlook on the U.K. to negative due to our view that, even assuming additional fiscal tightening, the net general government debt burden could approach 100% of GDP and remain near that level in the medium term. …
There is actually a federal “corporation” that guarantees private sector pensions. Private sector employees with defined benefit pension plans pay an insurance premium to the PBGC which it invests and uses to pay pensions when private companies can’t do it. …
On the night of April 27, for instance, the president invited to the White House some of his administration’s sharpest critics on the economy, including New York Times columnist Paul Krugman and Columbia University economist Joseph Stiglitz. Over a roast-beef…
We don’t normally use the word plummet but that is the operative word right now. – Robert Ward (subscription required), Deputy Director, Nelson Rockefeller Insitute of Government For all of you who think the economy is recovering, take a look at…
How can one justify bestowing a triple A rating on an entity with an accumulated negative net worth of more than $11,000bn and additional off-balance sheet obligations of $45,000bn? An entity that is set to run a $1,800bn-plus deficit for…
I just read two of the dumbest ideas ever about how to fix the economy by two academic economists, one from UCLA, the other from Harvard, in respected publications. In a much discussed article in The New York Times…
A secular bear market is a long period in which stocks and the economy overall make little progress. There can be small bull runs within secular bear markets which are called cyclical bull markets. But they don’t run for great…
Fascinating article on the front page of today’s WSJ on the difference in jobless benefits and total wage tax burdens in Europe and the US: “US, Europe Are Ocean Apart On Human Toll Of Joblessness” (subscription required). In Europe, wage…
If the ballot measures fail and the recession does continue unabated into 2010, the budget gap could widen again into the $20 billion range. But the governor and legislative leaders may have fired all their political bullets in February, leaving them…
As a one man shop, I can’t cover every single copy or read every report. So what I try to do is look at bellwethers, company’s that cover a broad swath of an industry and that should give insight into the…