by Raymond Keating Published: February 10,2012
Tags: Keating
Ignore the snow and the cold. Even though it’s only February, the hope of spring is upon us. That is, the hope that comes with Major League Baseball’s Spring Training. It’s been a long three-plus months since the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Texas Rangers in the World Series. But pitchers and catchers are reporting for [...] [...]
by Raymond Keating Published: February 3,2012
Tags: Keating
Depression — no other word fits for what has happened to the housing industry in this country for the past six years. The big question: Is this housing depression finally coming to an end? The U.S. Census Bureau released the latest data on housing starts and building permits in the middle of January. Compared to the [...] [...]
by Raymond Keating Published: January 27,2012
Tags: Keating
President Obama will release his proposed 2012-13 budget in early February. Over subsequent months, members of Congress will debate and attempt to score political points on the budget, especially in an election year, while special interests with their snouts stuck deep in the federal trough will seek to suck up even more taxpayer dollars. Make no [...] [...]
by Raymond Keating Published: January 20,2012
Tags: Keating
Politicians love to talk about expanding exports as an economic plus. But growth in at least one kind of export is a clear negative: people. Individuals, including entrepreneurs and investors, follow economic opportunity. If that opportunity is being restrained or squashed by costly public policies, then chances are pretty good that a state will be a [...] [...]
by Raymond Keating Published: January 13,2012
Tags: Keating
On the business and policy fronts, 2012 started with a revelation that Federal Reserve officials would try to enhance clarity and transparency in monetary policy. One might wonder if this is necessarily a good thing given the Fed’s actual decisions on monetary policy, especially over the past three-plus years. Do we really want to know more [...] [...]
by Raymond Keating Published: January 6,2012
Tags: Keating
Bad news recently hit about the Sears Holding Company. Or, perhaps it’s more accurate to say that more bad news was reported. After all, this is nothing new for the long-troubled retailer. It’s easy to forget that Sears once ranked as the nation’s largest retailer. Today, though, Sears serves as another example of how vulnerable even [...] [...]
by Raymond Keating Published: December 30,2011
Tags: Keating
What if you were a billionaire? Perhaps you’ve played this kind of “what if” game with friends. How would you spend time and money with billions of dollars at your disposal? Based on recent announcements, it’s been interesting to see what a couple of real-life billionaires are planning to do with their big bucks. One wants to [...] [...]
by Raymond Keating Published: December 22,2011
Tags: Keating
If you believe the latest doomsday cranks, the apocalypse arrives on December 21, 2012, a date marking the close of the ancient Mayan civilization’s “Long Count” calendar. Don’t ask me — or any reliable historian — how the Mayan calendar became a means for apocalyptic prophesies. It’s another combination of myth making, book selling, and some [...] [...]
by Raymond Keating Published: December 16,2011
Tags: Keating
How about more than two years of unemployment benefits? What might be the implications of extending unemployment benefits, which already has been pushed out to reach 99 weeks? Let’s first consider the current state of unemployment in the nation. As reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics early this month, the unemployment rate declined from [...] [...]
by Raymond Keating Published: December 8,2011
Tags: Keating
What is “Occupy Wall Street” — along with other “Occupy” movements that have popped up in various spots — all about in the end? Many people seem bewildered. They ask: What does the movement want to achieve exactly? What’s the point? Occupy Wall Street claims to speak for the 99 percent that are not in the top [...] [...]
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