Lies, damned lies, and the right-wing use of income statistics
The right-wing wants desperately to show—against all the evidence—that the rich are being taxed to death and that income inequality has dramatically decreased.
via Lies, damned lies, and the right-wing use of income statistics « Real-World Economics Review Blog.
Working Class Mens Wages Have Plummeted Over the Past 40 Years
….High school dropouts’ earnings have fallen 66 percent since 1969, and people with some college – the median level of education in the US – have seen earnings fall by a third. Reasonable people can disagree about what caused this massive decline and what should be done to fix it. But it’s a major crisis….
via Working Class Mens Wages Have Plummeted Over the Past 40 Years | Mother Jones.
Fed has few options as global growth slows
“They [the Fed] have a hammer and they’re looking for a nail,” Alan De Rose, managing director of government trading and finance at Oppenheimer, told Reuters.
via Fed has few options as global growth slows – Economy Watch.
McDonald’s profit hit by strong dollar – Consumer News – Crain’s Chicago Business
McDonald’s Corp. said its net income slipped 4 percent in the second quarter as a result of unfavorable currency exchange rates and a slowing global economy.
via McDonald’s profit hit by strong dollar – Consumer News – Crain’s Chicago Business.
Money can bring out our inner Gordon Gekko – Life Inc.
Researchers also tested the theory that a monetary reference would make people more cold-hearted and emotionally distant. Subjects were “primed” with a reference to money and then administered a questionnaire about personal values. Compared with a control group that didn’t receive a reference to money, researchers wrote, “Findings indicated that increased distance toward and decreased concern for others was further evidenced in participants’ lower levels of empathy and compassion for people who were suffering.”
American Pie in the Sky
Policy responses will have very limited effect in stemming the US economy’s deceleration toward stall speed: even with only a mild fiscal drag on growth, the US dollar is likely to strengthen as the eurozone crisis weakens the euro and as global risk aversion returns. The US Federal Reserve will carry out more quantitative easing this year, but it will be ineffective: long-term interest rates are already very low, and lowering them further would not boost spending. Indeed, the credit channel is frozen and velocity has collapsed, with banks hoarding increases in base money in the form of excess reserves. Moreover, the dollar is unlikely to weaken as other countries also carry out quantitative easing.
via “American Pie in the Sky” by Nouriel Roubini | Project Syndicate.
Super-Rich Hiding at Least $21 Trillion in Taxable Procedes
The figure is equivalent to the size of the US and Japanese economies combined.
via BBC News – Tax havens: Super-rich hiding at least $21tn.
It’ll Get Worse For Average Americans
Comparing the economy to a drug addict, Peter Schiff, noted economist and CEO of Euro Pacific Capital, said in a recent interview that all of the money the government is printing to boost the economy is “like you are trying to keep a drug addict high. And every time the drug wears off, if you want him to stay high, you have to give him more. But he’s not going to get healthy if you keep him on drugs.”
Do Too Many Young People Go to College?
[T]he biggest problem is that we are turning out vastly more college graduates than there are jobs in the relatively high-paying managerial, technical and professional occupations to which most college graduates traditionally have gravitated…
Economics @ ITT 
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