Monthly Archives: July 2011

Whatever the outcome of the last minute, too late by several weeks, negotiations that are underway in Washington considerable damage has already been imposed on what is supposed to the leader of the free world. The biggest damage is the … Continue reading →

Perhaps not surprisingly given the cast of bizarre politicians affiliated to the tea party wing of the Republican party who now sit in Congress a deal to raise the debt ceiling has still not been struck despite the fact that … Continue reading →

A key consideration in evaluating accurately the burden of  public sector debt is to understand the distinction between gross debt-often the headline number- and net debt the true measure of the debt burden. Robert Eisner explained this well in his … Continue reading →

One of the best Keynesian economists in the U.S. was the late Robert Eisner who taught for many years at Northwestern University and who was at one time president of the American Economics Association. I had the pleasure of spending … Continue reading →

The U.S. Bureau of Labour statistics reported the June unemployment numbers and they were not good principally because the government sector continues to cut jobs- a very bad policy in a recovery period and the private sector still refuses to … Continue reading →

One of the most common ways in which financial institutions assess credit worthiness is by measuring a client’s net worth. In other words they add up all of their assets including guaranteed future incomes streams discounted to their current present … Continue reading →

President Obama faces some implacable opposition to raising the debt limit in the U.S. by fiscally conservative and frankly dogmatic Republicans. Not to raise the limit will impose a politically inspired crisis on U.S. credibility and its position of leadership … Continue reading →