Tag: economics

Japan GDP

The second image shows Japanese GDP plotted from 1980 to 2006. It shows our once 18% GDP down to a a modest 9.1% in 2006. Furthermore, the text on the right explains that we’ve gone from the world’s highest GDP per capita to the world’s 18th. It’s really no wonder we’re having a hard time getting attention in Japan. With an aging population and a less-than-competitive economy, there are ways to manage, but you don’t get there by denying the facts and continuing to beat you chest IMHO.

why japan is screwed. the same thing will happen to switzerland as well

Sarkozy goes off the rails

Sarkozy declared the death of the 35-hour week, suggested that large companies may have to 2x or 3x the part of their profit they are obliged to share with employees and vowed to replace gross domestic product with a more holistic indicator of economic welfare. He would put a state bank in charge of defending French industry against sovereign wealth funds and other financial predators.

So much for that guy. Same old, same old.

NAR Lies

December 4, 2006: Pending Home Sales Tumble
NAR: “It’s important to focus on where the housing market is now – it appears to be stabilizing, and comparisons with an unsustainable boom mask the fact that home sales remain historically high – they’ll stay that way through 2007.”

October 10, 2007: Realtors group lowers sales forecast
NAR: “The speculative excesses have been removed from the market and home sales are returning to fundamentally healthy levels.”

November 15, 2007: Realtors revise home sales forecast lower again
NAR: “It is possible for even higher home sales activity than we’re forecasting if buyers regain their confidence.”

the best outcome of the recession is if these guys go under.

A Talent Contest We’re Losing

The European Union took a step recently that the US Congress can’t seem to muster the courage to take. By proposing a simple change in immigration policy, E.U. politicians served notice that they are serious about competing with the United States and Asia to attract the world’s top talent to live, work and innovate in Europe. With Congress gridlocked on immigration, it’s clear that the next Silicon Valley will not be in the United States.

h1-b is completely broken. between this, the monopoly money housing bubble and the waste going into “homeland security”, the us is well-positioned to slip badly

Against Realestate bailouts

We, the undersigned economists, write to strongly advise against excessive new regulations or federal interventions as a response to current trends in the housing market. Market corrections have already begun, with financial institutions writing down bad debts and adopting new lending standards to avoid future foreclosures. Legislation to create new underwriting standards will reduce competition and restrict consumer access to credit. Additionally, efforts to bail out or shore up lending institutions create a moral hazard that would slow the adjustments required in the marketplace.

figures. the whole home ownership scam is a moral hazard in the first place. an easy way to cut massive amounts of money from the federal budget. these investments perpetuate detroit-style misinvestments by spreading people out.

The government’s existing real estate programs also create barriers to change in market demand, particularly when it comes to newer mixed-use developments (developers, for instance, seeking an FHA loan for mixed-use properties must limit the share of commercial space to qualify).

Smart Growth America isn’t suggesting that the federal government get out of real estate all together. The criticism isn’t that Uncle Sam intervenes, but that he intervenes ineffectively. “Are we really achieving what we want? And do we even know what we want to achieve?”