I’m going to bet that the Affordable Care Act is going to become significantly more popular now that Americans are increasingly focused on the law’s practical effects.
Category: Economics
Quantitative easing and the stock market
Calculated Risk has a succinct QE Timeline in this post. He also puts those dates into the following graph of the S&P 500. It speaks for itself.
NYT finally realizes housing recovery is underway
Often using ideas and data aggregated by Calculated Risk, I’ve been writing about the bottom for housing since back in February.
An ESPLOST rant . . . [updated]
I’m all for increased spending on public education in the county, and I’m all for — at times — specific infrastructure upgrades. Raise my property taxes. Raise sales taxes that can also go to teacher hiring and general operations.
More good news for housing: Case-Shiller up in April
We are a long way from a “normal” housing market, whatever that will look like post-recovery, but the widespread price stabilization is good news for a variety of reasons.
Americans still driving less — but will the trend hold with lower gas prices?
“Travel on all roads and streets changed by -0.4% (-1.0 billion vehicle miles) for April 2012 as compared with April 2011. Travel for the month is estimated to be 247.2 billion vehicle miles.”
New study skirts primary issues regarding East Coast port dredging
Which ports on the East Coast or in the Gulf would it be most cost-effective to deepen in anticipation of larger ships coming through the Panama Canal in 2014? What’s the best way to fund those dredging projects?
State-by-state economies show broad-based if uneven recovery continuing
There’s been some disappointing economic data flowing out in recent weeks, but it doesn’t look like we’re headed toward a recession — just more slow growth.
Updated Fed economic predictions guarantee another round of quantitative easing (QE3)
Today’s economic projections after the latest round of Fed meetings are, in a word, dismal. They show continued growth and continued declines in unemployment — i.e., no recession — but with a growth so slow that millions of Americans will remain un- or underemployed. Many Americans already have a tenuous hold on their standing in the middle class; millions more will fall out of it if the Fed doesn’t do more.
Washington Post examines effects of Alabama immigration law
Call me a liberal on immigration issues, but my opinions aren’t far from those of Haley Barbour, of all people.
Georgia employment: less populous areas still losing jobs
At the end of my City Talk column today in the Savannah Morning News that begins with the Byrd Cookie Company’s new cafe, I mention the significant year-over-year decline in jobs in the Savannah metro area, which includes Chatham, Bryan,…
Homeownership in Europe: strongest economies have lowest rates
The evidence is pretty clear that modern, industrialized countries do not need high homeownership rates to have vigorous economies.
FDIC back in action: one Georgia bank closed today
The FDIC is far behind the 2011 pace of closures, which was considerably behind 2010. Georgia continues to lead the nation in bank failures since the economic crisis, but the 5 closed so far this year is far lower than the 23 Georgia banks closed in 2011.
Georgia has worst foreclosure rate in the country in May
“Georgia foreclosure activity in May increased 33 percent from the previous month and 30 percent from a year ago, helping the state post the nation’s highest foreclosure rate for the month — one in every 300 housing units with a foreclosure filing.”