Economic Collapse 2011?

[Veritas]

Brian wanted to know the answer to this question, Veritas, who exactly authorized the AIG bailout?

Here is one answer, your mileage may vary-

“There’s really no statutory authority for the AIG takeover…I won’t bother noting that the DC Circuit, were it to sit in judgment on whether the Fed could buy the world’s largest insurer, would undoubtedly conclude that the plain language of its governing statute (which is to make emergency loans, not require takeovers in exchange) would not permit the takeover under Chevron USA v. NRDC.”
http://legalblogwatch.typepad.com/legal_blog_watch/2008/09/federal-bailout.html

Europe is also experiencing problems with bankers:
“There’s a growing feeling that the banks have played a big part in the problems now facing Spain,” said del Rio, 37, who gathered with a throng of people in the town’s main square last week as protests that began May 15 swelled across the country. “There’s real anger with banks that got out of control.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-31/spanish-ire-against-bankers-spills-over-in-city-center-protests.html

[paramount]

[quote=briansd1].

We are growing and Britain is stagnating. The gap will grow wider as time goes by and it will be harder for Britain to catch up.[/quote]

Are we growing or is our money supply?

[paramount]

[quote=briansd1].

We are growing and Britain is stagnating. The gap will grow wider as time goes by and it will be harder for Britain to catch up.[/quote]

Are we growing or is our money supply?

[paramount]

[quote=briansd1].

We are growing and Britain is stagnating. The gap will grow wider as time goes by and it will be harder for Britain to catch up.[/quote]

Are we growing or is our money supply?

[paramount]

[quote=briansd1].

We are growing and Britain is stagnating. The gap will grow wider as time goes by and it will be harder for Britain to catch up.[/quote]

Are we growing or is our money supply?

[paramount]

[quote=briansd1].

We are growing and Britain is stagnating. The gap will grow wider as time goes by and it will be harder for Britain to catch up.[/quote]

Are we growing or is our money supply?

[CA renter]

Right, paramount.

Are we growing, or are prices simply getting higher (our purchasing power is deteriorating)? One is good, the other is very, very bad. Which one do you think it is?

[CA renter]

Right, paramount.

Are we growing, or are prices simply getting higher (our purchasing power is deteriorating)? One is good, the other is very, very bad. Which one do you think it is?

[CA renter]

Right, paramount.

Are we growing, or are prices simply getting higher (our purchasing power is deteriorating)? One is good, the other is very, very bad. Which one do you think it is?

[CA renter]

Right, paramount.

Are we growing, or are prices simply getting higher (our purchasing power is deteriorating)? One is good, the other is very, very bad. Which one do you think it is?

[CA renter]

Right, paramount.

Are we growing, or are prices simply getting higher (our purchasing power is deteriorating)? One is good, the other is very, very bad. Which one do you think it is?

[Eugene]

[quote=CA renter]Right, paramount.

Are we growing, or are prices simply getting higher (our purchasing power is deteriorating)? One is good, the other is very, very bad. Which one do you think it is?[/quote]

Yes, we are growing, for now. GDP is still growing in real terms (in other words, after adjusting for price changes). Things could be worse. UK GDP actually shrunk for a quarter last fall. Greece and possibly Spain (not sure) are, technically, still in recession.

That may not last long, though: Republicans are out in full power once again, demanding immediate austerity (including abolishing Medicare and cutting Medicaid) and blocking the debt ceiling increase unless they get what they want, perfectly willing to burn the house even if it falls on their own heads. In the mean time, Obama administration has been a total failure, completely conceding to Republican pseudoscience and failing to exert any effort to resolve this horrible situation.

Krugman calls it 1937 all over again. Given his excellent track record, I see no reason to disagree with him. I’ll give it two weeks. Unless the White House comes up with some kind of radical program to jump-start the economy in the next two weeks, or a sensible deal is reached with the GOP that does not involve any significant spending cuts right now (as opposed to any deferred spending cuts delayed till unemployment goes below 6% – which is the right way to go), on June 16, 2011, I’m going all-cash again. (And, just for the record, I’ve been mostly all-stock since January 2009.)

The general problem is that Republicans are almost sure to oppose almost any government move that might prevent the double-dip recession. For example, a rerun of 2009 stimulus would be extremely effective, and today, when the economy isn’t losing jobs at the fastest rate since 1930’s, it could result in immediate and obvious results (lower unemployment, higher consumer spending). But is there any chance of getting another $1 trillion (6% of GDP) of short-term deficit spending through the Congress, for a chance to end the Great Recession here and now? None at all.

Sensible, intelligent left-wing economists have been trying to catalogue things that could be done now, in spite of Republican stonewalling in the House

http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2011/06/department-of-stuff-that-could-really-help-the-economy-and-doesnt-require-republican-cooperation.html

http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2011/05/shoulda-coulda-woulda-but-we-didnt-watch-macroeconomic-policy-in-recession-department.html

But I wouldn’t be holding my fingers crossed for any of that to be actually implemented by the Obama administration.

[Eugene]

[quote=CA renter]Right, paramount.

Are we growing, or are prices simply getting higher (our purchasing power is deteriorating)? One is good, the other is very, very bad. Which one do you think it is?[/quote]

Yes, we are growing, for now. GDP is still growing in real terms (in other words, after adjusting for price changes). Things could be worse. UK GDP actually shrunk for a quarter last fall. Greece and possibly Spain (not sure) are, technically, still in recession.

That may not last long, though: Republicans are out in full power once again, demanding immediate austerity (including abolishing Medicare and cutting Medicaid) and blocking the debt ceiling increase unless they get what they want, perfectly willing to burn the house even if it falls on their own heads. In the mean time, Obama administration has been a total failure, completely conceding to Republican pseudoscience and failing to exert any effort to resolve this horrible situation.

Krugman calls it 1937 all over again. Given his excellent track record, I see no reason to disagree with him. I’ll give it two weeks. Unless the White House comes up with some kind of radical program to jump-start the economy in the next two weeks, or a sensible deal is reached with the GOP that does not involve any significant spending cuts right now (as opposed to any deferred spending cuts delayed till unemployment goes below 6% – which is the right way to go), on June 16, 2011, I’m going all-cash again. (And, just for the record, I’ve been mostly all-stock since January 2009.)

The general problem is that Republicans are almost sure to oppose almost any government move that might prevent the double-dip recession. For example, a rerun of 2009 stimulus would be extremely effective, and today, when the economy isn’t losing jobs at the fastest rate since 1930’s, it could result in immediate and obvious results (lower unemployment, higher consumer spending). But is there any chance of getting another $1 trillion (6% of GDP) of short-term deficit spending through the Congress, for a chance to end the Great Recession here and now? None at all.

Sensible, intelligent left-wing economists have been trying to catalogue things that could be done now, in spite of Republican stonewalling in the House

http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2011/06/department-of-stuff-that-could-really-help-the-economy-and-doesnt-require-republican-cooperation.html

http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2011/05/shoulda-coulda-woulda-but-we-didnt-watch-macroeconomic-policy-in-recession-department.html

But I wouldn’t be holding my fingers crossed for any of that to be actually implemented by the Obama administration.

[Eugene]

[quote=CA renter]Right, paramount.

Are we growing, or are prices simply getting higher (our purchasing power is deteriorating)? One is good, the other is very, very bad. Which one do you think it is?[/quote]

Yes, we are growing, for now. GDP is still growing in real terms (in other words, after adjusting for price changes). Things could be worse. UK GDP actually shrunk for a quarter last fall. Greece and possibly Spain (not sure) are, technically, still in recession.

That may not last long, though: Republicans are out in full power once again, demanding immediate austerity (including abolishing Medicare and cutting Medicaid) and blocking the debt ceiling increase unless they get what they want, perfectly willing to burn the house even if it falls on their own heads. In the mean time, Obama administration has been a total failure, completely conceding to Republican pseudoscience and failing to exert any effort to resolve this horrible situation.

Krugman calls it 1937 all over again. Given his excellent track record, I see no reason to disagree with him. I’ll give it two weeks. Unless the White House comes up with some kind of radical program to jump-start the economy in the next two weeks, or a sensible deal is reached with the GOP that does not involve any significant spending cuts right now (as opposed to any deferred spending cuts delayed till unemployment goes below 6% – which is the right way to go), on June 16, 2011, I’m going all-cash again. (And, just for the record, I’ve been mostly all-stock since January 2009.)

The general problem is that Republicans are almost sure to oppose almost any government move that might prevent the double-dip recession. For example, a rerun of 2009 stimulus would be extremely effective, and today, when the economy isn’t losing jobs at the fastest rate since 1930’s, it could result in immediate and obvious results (lower unemployment, higher consumer spending). But is there any chance of getting another $1 trillion (6% of GDP) of short-term deficit spending through the Congress, for a chance to end the Great Recession here and now? None at all.

Sensible, intelligent left-wing economists have been trying to catalogue things that could be done now, in spite of Republican stonewalling in the House

http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2011/06/department-of-stuff-that-could-really-help-the-economy-and-doesnt-require-republican-cooperation.html

http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2011/05/shoulda-coulda-woulda-but-we-didnt-watch-macroeconomic-policy-in-recession-department.html

But I wouldn’t be holding my fingers crossed for any of that to be actually implemented by the Obama administration.

[Eugene]

[quote=CA renter]Right, paramount.

Are we growing, or are prices simply getting higher (our purchasing power is deteriorating)? One is good, the other is very, very bad. Which one do you think it is?[/quote]

Yes, we are growing, for now. GDP is still growing in real terms (in other words, after adjusting for price changes). Things could be worse. UK GDP actually shrunk for a quarter last fall. Greece and possibly Spain (not sure) are, technically, still in recession.

That may not last long, though: Republicans are out in full power once again, demanding immediate austerity (including abolishing Medicare and cutting Medicaid) and blocking the debt ceiling increase unless they get what they want, perfectly willing to burn the house even if it falls on their own heads. In the mean time, Obama administration has been a total failure, completely conceding to Republican pseudoscience and failing to exert any effort to resolve this horrible situation.

Krugman calls it 1937 all over again. Given his excellent track record, I see no reason to disagree with him. I’ll give it two weeks. Unless the White House comes up with some kind of radical program to jump-start the economy in the next two weeks, or a sensible deal is reached with the GOP that does not involve any significant spending cuts right now (as opposed to any deferred spending cuts delayed till unemployment goes below 6% – which is the right way to go), on June 16, 2011, I’m going all-cash again. (And, just for the record, I’ve been mostly all-stock since January 2009.)

The general problem is that Republicans are almost sure to oppose almost any government move that might prevent the double-dip recession. For example, a rerun of 2009 stimulus would be extremely effective, and today, when the economy isn’t losing jobs at the fastest rate since 1930’s, it could result in immediate and obvious results (lower unemployment, higher consumer spending). But is there any chance of getting another $1 trillion (6% of GDP) of short-term deficit spending through the Congress, for a chance to end the Great Recession here and now? None at all.

Sensible, intelligent left-wing economists have been trying to catalogue things that could be done now, in spite of Republican stonewalling in the House

http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2011/06/department-of-stuff-that-could-really-help-the-economy-and-doesnt-require-republican-cooperation.html

http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2011/05/shoulda-coulda-woulda-but-we-didnt-watch-macroeconomic-policy-in-recession-department.html

But I wouldn’t be holding my fingers crossed for any of that to be actually implemented by the Obama administration.

[Author]

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