Federal Tax & Bailout 2009

The economy lost 457,000 jobs last month, and the unemployment rate edged up to 9.5 percent–the highest in 26 years. More depressing still: the upbeat trend of last month, when job losses moderated, is decisively over. June’s decline killed off 120,000 more positions than May’s.The V-shaped recovery that some economists thought was likely a month ago now looks more like a W–or even, heaven forbid, an L. With the stock market and consumer confidence down, and the stimulus thus far failing to stim
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The quip “There are three kinds of lies:  lies, damn lies, and statistics” is variously attributed to Benjamin Disraeli or Mark Twain.   What should the public make of government statistics, such as the monthly employment report released today, Thursday, July 2, by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)? There is no lying in US government statistics.   But there are always commentators who will use the numbers to make whatever point they want.     One should learn enough to be able to int
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A “W” Recession? Martin Feldstein has recently raised the possibility that we might experience a relapse into recession ( a beautiful symmetrical W ), with the next dip in 2010 . In my view, this means (1) we should have opted for a bigger and better composed stimulus package, and (2) the timing of expenditures in the stimulus package might not be as problematic as many commentators have indicated. From Bloomberg : “I think we”re going to see a temporary substantial improvement,” Felds
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(After reading Jason Leopold’s piece at Consortiumnews, see how the WashPost does the story: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/02/AR2009070203608.html ) While shielding George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, Justice Department lawyers let slip CIA leak case clues, reports Jason Leopold. For the full story, go to: Consortiumnews.com While there, also read: The brutal recession is not only tearing about lives and families, it is threatening the fabric of democracy, wr
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The stock market is closed today, so I have to wonder why banks are open… But, they are, so we carry on… There’s lots of talk about regarding the Jobs Jamboree that printed yesterday, so let’s get this started! Well, well, well, what do we have here? It certainly looks like all those sounding the “all clear horn” have some egg on their collective faces this morning, eh? The egg thrower is the Jobs Jamboree that took place yesterday… Recall that I told you about how the forecasters had job loss
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The myth of the recession-proof job continues to be exposed. Police officers, firefighters— now teachers. From the Wall Street Journal’s Alex Frangos today: In a sign of how severe the employment downturn is getting, even schoolteachers, an occupation once viewed as recession proof, are feeling the pain. Education jobs grew steadily in recent years amid rising enrollment and government efforts to reduce class sizes. Now the increase in teaching positions has leveled off as school dis
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A “W” Recession? Martin Feldstein has recently raised the possibility that we might experience a relapse into recession ( a beautiful symmetrical W ), with the next dip in 2010 . In my view, this means (1) we should have opted for a bigger and better composed stimulus package, and (2) the timing of expenditures in the stimulus package might not be as problematic as many commentators have indicated. From Bloomberg : “I think we”re going to see a temporary substantial improvement,” Felds
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A “W” Recession? Martin Feldstein has recently raised the possibility that we might experience a relapse into recession ( a beautiful symmetrical W ), with the next dip in 2010 . In my view, this means (1) we should have opted for a bigger and better composed stimulus package, and (2) the timing of expenditures in the stimulus package might not be as problematic as many commentators have indicated. From Bloomberg : “I think we”re going to see a temporary substantial improvement,” Felds
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134 MILLIARDS DE DOLLARS - CHRONOLOGIE I. 134 milliards de dollars (8 juin) II. 134 milliards de dollars - suite (10 juin) III. 134 milliards de dollars - trop gros pour être faux (14 juin) IV. 134 milliards de dollars - les mystères de l’information (16 juin) V. 134 milliards de dollars - les comptes ne tournent pas rond ! (24 juin) VI. 134 milliards de dollars - le mystère continue ! (30 juin) VII. 134 milliards de dollars - Hal Turner (4 juillet) * * *
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ATLANTA – Colin Daymude was out of work last year after his business failed and eagerly filed his taxes in mid-January, figuring he’d get his refund sooner. He was wrong. It took the 44-year-old entrepreneur more than six months to get his 1,300 check — money that he needed to pay living expenses while he worked a few side gigs. Tax day — April 15 — has long since come and gone, but sharp budget cuts and falling revenues have forced many states to delay income tax returns for months — and left t
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