Today the House passed H.R. 4173: Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009. The vote was 223 to 202 with 27 Democrats joining all of the Republicans in a no vote.
The actual bill is in the Congressional Record, with the latest Congressional actions (not real time).
Here is a list of amendments. The current House Roll Call vote is here.
The House allowed 36 amendments for debate, which severely limits the real number of amendments up for consideration. It appeared to be a strategic move to block the flurry of Republican amendments.
On The Economic Populist you might have noticed the middle column. We try to list other sites and blogs who have exceptional insight and writing on what is happening in the U.S. economy.
Sometimes though, one cannot say it better but miss those who did.
Must Read #1
A new research piece, by Asha G. Bangalore, Northern TrustGlobal Economic Research, states that just to maintain the current unemployment rate, the United States must create between 86,600 and 140,000 jobs per month. It's due to the average and then a slightly below average labor force growth rate of the last 20 years. So next time you see someone cheering that the U.S. only lost 11,000 jobs this month, consider these numbers. Also next time you see someone saying the United States should ignore immigration factors in the current labor market situation....think of these numbers.
The Panel concluded that TARP was an important part of a broader government strategy that stabilized the U.S. financial system. It is apparent after 14 months, however, that significant underlying weaknesses in the financial system remain.
[TARP]created an implicit guarantee for major financial institutions that distorts pricing for capital and encourages excessive risk-taking. Unwinding this guarantee poses a difficult long-term challenge.
Reading blogs that in any way write about economics has generally become an exercise in utter futility. According to most good news is either propagated by corporate whores who are blind to the realities around them or presented without considering "all" the facts. All government statistics and all economists are wrong -- unless they support or present a bearish viewpoint.
Normally I wouldn't notice, but someone pointed it out to me and it got me thinking. How did we arrive at this point, where the bullish and bearish are drawn up against one another in much the same way that Democrats and Republicans in Congress are?
It occurred to me that perspective has everything to do with it.
On The Economic Populist you might have noticed the middle column. We try to list other sites and blogs who have exceptional insight and writing on what is happening in the U.S. economy.
Sometimes though, one cannot say it better but miss those who did.
Must Read #1
Calculated Risk has a table, using a method similar to Okun's Law from researcher Jan Hatzius, to show what kind of GDP growth is required to generate jobs. 6% GDP growth just to drop the unemployment rate to ~8%. See this post on how Okun's Law is not correlating well this recession.
Brought to you by Chinese Caulking and Insulation Manufacturing - Americans! Caulk your windows! It will stimulate your economy! (after all it will only cost $23 billion dollars)
Good Morning! Rise and Shine! Get that Cup O' Joe...
break out the O.J....hang out with the pooch...time to check out the Funnies!
It's Friday Night! Party Time! Time to relax, put your feet up on the couch, lay back, and watch some detailed videos on economic policy!
Since hearing how putting in some insulation or yet more teachers (read voters) and pickin' up trash is magically going to generate 10.9 million jobs (the number needed to get back to pre-recession employment levels), I thought this talk by the Alliance for American Manufacturing on how to rebuild the U.S. economy was in order. They have an excellent plan for infrastructure projects which would generate GDP, add to the national economy, over the long term, in addition to providing Americans with high skills jobs.
The rate unexpectedly fell to 10 percent, from 10.2 percent in October, as employers cut the fewest number of jobs since the recession began. The government also said 159,000 fewer jobs were lost in September and October than first reported.
On The Economic Populist you might have noticed the middle column. We try to list other sites and blogs who have exceptional insight and writing on what is happening in the U.S. economy.
Sometimes though, one cannot say it better but miss those who did.
Must Read #1
James Hamilton, over at Econbrowser has a easy to read, lots of graphs analysis post on some recent reports on auto sales, home sales, ADP jobs report in Anemic Recovery. If I wrote up my own thoughts on many of these reports, it would be almost identical so check out his site. Here's one:
I'm seeing the same story in new home sales. These are up on a seasonally adjusted basis mostly because they had previously been so very low, not because the market is remotely back to normal.
It's Friday Night! Party Time! Time to relax, put your feet up on the couch, lay back, and watch some detailed videos on economic policy!
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