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Why are American businesses so selective in their hiring these days?










































































































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=Kenneth Rogoff: =

































=//Something to share with students?//=







=//Let's talk about class ba-by...//=



=//Ohh, Canada...//=









=November 2011 unemployment rate for veterans aged 18-24: __37.9%__=





=//and a response from "The Reformed Broker"...//=



=From Morgan Stanley...=



=From //[|Calculated Risk]//...=







=New York Times Op-Ed: "The Unaddressed Link Between Poverty and Education"=



=//Some say we're living in a new Gilded Age. Well, it's beginning to look more like the Early Republic to me. Our 21st century economy finding it's 19th century roots...//=



=//and...//=







=//President Obama: Neo-Populist Progressive?//=

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=From //[|The New Republic]//, December 7, 2011:=



// **[|Economic Policy Institute] on the President's speech in Osawatomie, Kansas on December 6, 2011...** //





=//Labor force participation: the untold story behind the unemployment figure...//=



=//Fed lent at least $7.7 trillion, and that was cheap money...//=



=//and don't forget Jon Stewart's take...//=

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=Joanne Barkan: "Billionaires rule our schools."=

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=//Want more details? Click [|here].//=



=//What happens when the tools of macroeconomic policy management are neglected?//=



=//WWJMKD?//=



=//And for your listening pleasure...//=





="Congress: Trading Stock on Inside Information?" November, 2011=

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=//Also, check out this related article in the November 21, 2011 issue of Newsweek...//=





=//Does environmental regulation really kill jobs? Click below and read on...//=





=Paul Krugman on the [|Economic Policy Institute] (EPI)...=













=Click above to listen to the program from WBEZ's //[|Worldview]//=



=Now, click above for the bad news...=

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=[|David Harvey]'s Marxist perspective=

media type="custom" key="10361342" =**Inquiring (and unemployed) minds want to know.**=

= = =**A Good Start...**=

=[|"States Start to Require Courses in Financial Literacy"] by Casey McDermott, USA TODAY, August 14, 2011=

=The History of the Debt Limit - New York Times - July, 2011=

="Washington's inability to come to an agreement on the debt limit has many asking how the country arrived at this point. The Times's Louise Story looks back."=

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=Keynes vs. Hayek Round Two: [|Fight of the Century!] - May 2011= = = =THEY'RE BACK! The lyrical battle continues...=

="According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, the Great Recession ended almost two years ago, in the summer of 2009. But we’re all uneasy. Job growth has been disappointing. The recovery seems fragile. Where should we head from here? Is that question even meaningful? Can the government steer the economy or have past attempts helped create the mess we’re still in. John Maynard Keynes and F. A. Hayek never agreed on the answers to these questions and they still don’t. Let’s listen to the greats. See Keynes and Hayek throwing down in 'Fight of the Century'." =

=[|"The State of Working America's Wealth"] by Sylvia A. Allegretto, March 2011= = = =Through volatility and turmoil, the gap widens. Another eye-opening report from EPI.=



=The story behind America's broken economy by EPI. Check it out. - **February 2011**=

=[|"What Good is Wall Street?"] by John Cassidy, //The New Yorker// - November 29, 2010= =John Cassidy says that "Much of what investment bankers do is socially worthless." Check out this must read and see what you think.=

=[|"Budget Puzzle: You Fix the Budget"] from the New York Times (November, 2010)= = = =Today, you’re in charge of the nation’s finances. Some of your options have more short-term savings and some have more long-term savings. When you have closed the budget gaps for both 2015 and 2030, you are done. Make your own plan, then share it online. =

===[|"5 Reasons Americans Are So Wrong About Major Economic Facts"] - from [|The Atlantic] and [|Yahoo! Finance] (October 29, 2010)===

=Do I and The Economist stand corrected (see below)? This is an important debate. A challenge to the idea that a large share of our unemployment is structural from EPI: [|"Debunking the Claim of Structural Unemployment"] by Lawrence Mishel (September 22, 2010)=



=**Prof. Robert Reich, U.C. Berkeley**= = = =Former Labor Secretary and economist Robert Reich provides current and historical perspective on the state of our economy in his discussion with Dave Davies on NPR's Fresh Air (September 29, 2010). Click the image above to check out Prof. Reich's new book //Aftershock//. Click the link below to listen to the conversation (approx. 20 min.) and read an excerpt from the book.= = = =[|"Reich Blames Economy's Woes on Income Disparity"]=

=Ira Glass with Planet Money economics correspondent Adam Davidson on why—even after everything the federal government has done to save Wall Street, actions which have led to record profits and bonuses—Wall Street seems ungrateful. Adam and producer Jane Feltes head out to a Wall Street bar where they're told by three finance guys that there's no reason to thank the President for saving their jobs. Planet Money is a co-production of //This American Life// and NPR News. Click the logo above to listen to Act One of the show - Wall Street: Money Never Weeps. (September 24, 2010) =

Bold propositions...
//**TO:** President Obama//  //**FROM:** Thomas I. Palley//  //**RE:** How to avoid stagnation and restore shared prosperity//  //**DATE:** Labor Day, 2010//

[|"Plan B for Obama on the Economy"] - From the //Financial Times// Economists' Forum Blog (Labor Day, 2010)
[|ft.com] / [|economistsforum]

=Everybody wants to know why unemployment remains high. Well folks, it looks like we're dealing with an anomaly here. It appears that weak demand cannot fully explain this muckey-muck labor market. As I've suspected all along, structural problems are to blame as well. So I ask, WWaKD (what would a Keynesian do)?= = = =[|Economics Focus: Bad Circulation] - There is more to America's stubbornly high unemployment than weak demand - The Economist, August 26, 2010=

=Does organized labor hinder economic recovery? Well, according to the titanic tag-team from U. of Chicago, the American version certainly does. Read on and see what //you// think...= = = =[|Unionism and Economic Recovery] by Richard Posner= = = =[|Unions and the Obama Administration] - by Gary Becker=



=**Nice numbers, if you can get them - [|Profits, but no Jobs: how long can America's profit rebound continue?] - The Economist, August 7, 2010** = = = =//"Bottom line: higher corporate profits no longer lead to higher employment. We're witnessing a great decoupling of company profits from jobs."// - Robert Reich, UC Berkley economist and former U.S. Secretary of Labor.=

=== Should we fear the bots? - [|"Monsters in the Market"], the Atlantic, July/August 2010 ===



= Algorithms gone wild? I have the good fortune of having a trader friend at the Chicago Board of Options Exchange. Here's some critical analysis from someone in the know: = = = =//Yeah, our industry is getting the full "boogey-man" treatment in the mainstream press right now. There is a lot of hoopla about the "flash crash" and High Frequency Trading's (HFT) role in the markets, but the bottom line is: HFT provides liquidity to the markets and that is a good thing. Markets work best when there are many participants willing to assume risk and provide liquidity in exchange for profit opportunity. There is no such thing as riskless profit, despite the frequent description of HFT in the mainstream press. //= = = =// I love this quote from your "Monsters" article : "But he thinks that without better regulation, more algo-gone-wild scenarios are inevitable. He notes that while controls at big firms, like Citi, are generally exemplary, second- and third-tier firms present a graver risk." //= = = =// Controls at Citi are "exemplary"? Isn't this the same Citibank that couldn't effectively manage it's trading desks a few years ago and allowed it's positions in MBS and CDS to overwhelm the firm and necessitate a bailout because they were literally insolvent? Yeah, I've got tons of faith in them. //=

===**James Surowiecki's case for financial literacy education. Another outstanding piece from The New Yorker's Financial Page - "Greater Fools", 7/5/10** ===

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<span style="font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 5px;"> ======

//"The difference between knowing a little about your finances and knowing nothing can amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars over a lifetime. And, as the past ten years have shown us, the cost to society can be far greater than that."//

**Has all this talk of austerity measures given you the blues? Well, rest assured that you're not alone....** //**"Myths of Austerity"**// <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; cursor: pointer; padding-right: 10px;">[|NYTimes 07/01/10**]

//"//<span style="color: #000000; font-family: georgia,'times new roman',times,serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;">//This conventional wisdom isn’t based on either evidence or careful analysis. Instead, it rests on what we might charitably call sheer speculation, and less charitably call figments of the policy elite’s imagination — specifically, on belief in what I’ve come to think of as the invisible bond vigilante and the confidence fairy."//

<span style="font-family: georgia,'times new roman',times,serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">//<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; line-height: 25px;">**1930s all over again?** //

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<span style="font-size: 17px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 5px;">**//"Betting that Cutting Spending Won't Derail Recovery"// <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; cursor: pointer; padding-right: 10px;">[|NY Times 06/30/10] ** ======



<span style="font-family: georgia,'times new roman',times,serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;"> //"In responding to the recent financial crisis, Europe, led by Germany, was much more timid than the United States, which is one reason the European economy is in worse shape today."//

<span style="color: #000000; font-size: 17px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">**The end of government stimulus spending?** **//"A Pendulum Swing Towards Austerity"// <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; cursor: pointer; padding-right: 10px;">[|NY Times 06/25/10] **



<span style="color: #000000; font-family: georgia,'times new roman',times,serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;"> //"It is not that fiscal conservatives have won a grand battle of ideas, but rather that governments realize that the bills are coming due."//

= =