Wrong To Cut Spending Now And It Should Be Increased

July 8, 2011 Leave a comment

It is entirely voodoo economics to reduce government spending in the face of serious unemployment.  Consumers are not spending.  Business is not expanding and investing.  Housing is a mess.  Exports are so-so.  The only real spender left is the federal government, since state and local governments are still cutting spending and employment.

“Across the board it was a weak [jobs] report,” said Michelle Meyer, a senior U.S. economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, in New York. “The recovery is still fragile and growth will continue to be slow. The economy is healing very gradually.”

via U.S. Payrolls Rise 18,000; Jobless Rate Climbs to 9.2% – Bloomberg.

Filed under Business and Commerce, Economy, National

Bad News For Miracle Mile

July 7, 2011 Leave a comment

Based on personal observations, Merrick Park is becoming a more varied, interesting and comfortable place to go than Miracle Mile.  It has a growing list of restaurants, good parking and high and middle range shopping.  And, yes, thanks for the parking!

Miracle Mile has lost out in the race to be the center of attention for shopping and entertaining in the city of Coral Gables and is not likely to regain it for a long time even if with its so-called new streetscape.

The upscale shopping mall Village of Merrick Park is boasting the highest occupancy in its nine-year history, a success that is driving most tenants up for renewal to secure new leases.

The 741,229-square-foot shopping destination in Coral Gables is experiencing its biggest growth in the food category, with four new concepts signing leases.

via Coral Gables’ Merrick Park hits occupancy high as sales rise nearly 10%.

Filed under Business and Commerce, Coral Gables

Basic Economics of Trade Agreements (Krugman)

July 1, 2011 Leave a comment

The case for free trade is about microeconomics, about raising efficiency. There’s no particular reason to think that trade liberalization is good for fixing problems of inadequate demand. I mean, you learn in Econ 101 that aggregate spending is Y = C+I+G+X-M; that is, consumer spending, plus investment spending, plus government purchases, plus exports, minus imports. Trade liberalization raises X, but it also raises M. For any individual county it can go either way; for the world as a whole it’s a wash, since total exports equal total imports.

via Wrong To Be Right – NYTimes.com.

Filed under Business and Commerce, Economy, International

Ryancare is Not Medicare (Krugman)

June 4, 2011 Leave a comment

Medicare would be gutted by the Ryan proposal–the elderly would get stuck buying their insurance from an uncontrolled cost system: the private insurance companies.

…how does the Ryan plan differ from the Affordable Care Act? After all, in both plans people are supposed to buy coverage from private insurers, with a subsidy from the government.

Well, the answer is that the ACA is specifically designed to ensure that insurance is affordable, whereas Ryancare just hands out vouchers and washes its hands. Specifically, the ACA subsidy system (pdf) sets a maximum percentage of income that families are expected to pay for insurance, on a sliding scale that rises with income. To the extent that the actual cost of a minimum acceptable policy exceeds that percentage of income, subsidies make up the difference.

Ryancare, by contrast, provides a fixed sum — end of story. And because this fixed sum would not grow with rising health care costs, it’s almost guaranteed to fall far short of the actual cost of insurance.

This is also why Ryancare is NOT premium support; it’s a voucher system. No matter how much they say it isn’t, that’s exactly what it is.

via Ryancare Versus Obamacare – NYTimes.com.

Filed under Business and Commerce, National

← Older posts

Newer posts →