Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke recently spoke of a slowing world economy at the annual fete of world economists in Jackson Hole, Wyo. His speech was the typical measured prose of someone whose choice of adverbs has the capacity to send markets diving. However, to an experienced listener, two interesting tidbits emerged.
In this column, on a sunny Labor Day five years past, I asserted that the American labor movement was dead. Given what has transpired since, it would appear my diagnosis was a bit optimistic.
The measurement of value in an artistic endeavor will always lie in the hearts of men and women.
This week, students are arriving at my university and others. I believe this is a good time to say something both provocative and nuanced: A college diploma is virtually worthless.
The recession that ended three years ago this summer has been followed by the feeblest economic recovery since the Great Depression. Growth has never been weaker in a postwar recovery. Consumer spending has never been so slack. Only once has job growth been slower.
The hullabaloo over gay marriage and Chick-fil-A exposes three astonishing falsehoods of modern political economy that distract us from weightier issues.
This summer marks the 50th year of Walmart, America’s manned space exploration and—youthful appearances notwithstanding—your columnist.
Almost all the economic forecasts that appear monthly or quarterly have been revised downward, some for the third time. And the smallest tidbit of good news dominates the news cycles without moving financial markets
I am always saddened and more than a bit disappointed when I hear politicians promise to create jobs.
There is a great (and vituperative) disagreement on government’s role in stabilizing a recession.
Few governments, and none in Indiana, can now afford to continue doing things the private sector does.
Make no mistake: 150,000 new jobs ain’t good news.
I believe we ought to raise taxes to finally end the soothing falsehoods that surround our tax policy—especially what are called the Bush tax cuts.
It is quite easy to do things when young and inexperienced that severely limit one’s long-run options.
This week’s recall vote in Wisconsin has been heralded by many observers as a forecast of the presidential election. I think they are wrong. It is far more consequential.
We need a compromise that preserves innovation and mitigates the tendency for the sort of moral hazard that fueled the last recession.
This new birth of freedom is the largest in human history, and only a handful of truly totalitarian states still linger today.
The plain reality is clear: Austerity is coming to Europe, either as a planned and thoughtful exercise or through fiscal ruin.
As disparate facts, the economic conditions in Europe and the United States are disconcerting. Taken together, they are frightening.
The Employment Act of 1946 essentially required the Federal Reserve to do two mutually exclusive things: promote full employment and keep inflation low.
