Archive for December, 2008
Feldstein: Let the Stimulus Be Military
Martin Feldstein, econ professor at Harvard and chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Reagan, reveals in this op-ed from yesterday’s WSJ that if he has to be a Keynesian he insists on being a military Keynesian. We are not surprised. Two noteworthy bits: Marty says that if there should be an increase ...Read more.
O. to Create Loopholes for Venture Capitalists
From our friends at the American Small Business League. We posted an earlier press release from them about Obama’s appointment of Karen Gordon Mills as head of the Small Business Administration. The worry was that this would signal that the incoming administration would continue the practice of past administrations of channeling contracts set aside for ...Read more.
Bill Black on IndyMac/Thrift Fraud
The article on the fraud at IndyMac in the business section of today’s New York Times quotes UMKC professor and D&S author William K. Black. (Black wrote the cover story for our November/December 2007 issue on banking deregulation.) If you haven’t been briefed on the situation with IndyMac yet, here are the basics: an official ...Read more.
Toyota Profits Hit Pothole
Toyota expects to report its first operating loss in 70 years. The company announced that it will likely post a loss of $1.7 billion for the fiscal year ending March 31. For the previous year, the company reported an operating profit of $28 billion. The company expects next year’s outlook to be even grimmer. November ...Read more.
National Call-In Day for HR 676
From Healthcare-NOW!: Give America a Gift: Single-Payer National Healthcare Dear Healthcare-NOW! Supporter, This is your reminder that Monday, December 22nd, is the National Call-In Day to Support Single-Payer Healthcare, HR 676! With your help for just a few minutes, we can get the message through to Congress that we want to remove corporate greed from ...Read more.
Stampede for 'Bush shoe' creates 100 new jobs
Ok–this is a bit outside of the mission of our blog (except, uh, job-creation?), but I couldn’t resist. From the Guardian; hat-tip to Lois Ahrens. Robert Tait in Istanbul | Monday 22 December 2008 Their deployment as a makeshift missile robbed President George Bush of his dignity and landed their owner in jail. But the ...Read more.
More Working Parents Can't Afford Daycare
A growing number of working parents are unable to pay for daycare, according to a story in the Washington Post. Although the article doesn’t specify hard numbers, it that code enforcers, social workers, and others are finding more young kids left home alone. Daycare centers that usually have long waiting lists are cutting staff and ...Read more.
$1.6 Billion of Bailout Went to Pay Top Execs
According to a study by the Associated Press, $1.6 billion of the federal bailout funds went into the pockets of top bank executives. Even institutions that have cut the salaries and bonuses of top corporate officers have awarded massive compensation packages, despite having logged billions of dollars in losses. Some highlights: The total amount given ...Read more.
Venture Capitalist at the SBA
One of the many press releases that crowd the D&S mailbox caught our eye today and seemed worth passing along. (For a detailed look at how large corporations have horned in on small business contracts, check out Christopher Moraff’s piece “The Incredible Shrinking Company” from the Jan/Feb 2006 D&S. ) Obama Appoints Venture Capital Executive ...Read more.
Don't Worry About the Debt
A great exchange between LBO Talk‘s Doug Henwood and Brian Doherty of Reason Magazine on whether we should be worried about the national debt: Why does Washington really need to pay down its overall debt? When does any nonhuman entity ever pay down its debt? Individuals do go through a life cycle of accumulating debts ...Read more.
