I’m still catching up on some interesting articles and such over the past week. On August 30th, Henry Unger at the AJC wrote an interesting piece: UPS chief: D.C. politics gets in way of job creation. CEO Scott Davis provides…
Category: Economics
Well, about those lower gas prices we should be getting . . .
The price of crude has a noisy relationship with prices at the pump, but they clearly correlate to some degree. A couple of weeks ago, I was expecting gas prices in Savannah to slip to $3.30 or less per gallon…
NYT: More urban density leads to better jobs
There’s a great piece by Ryan Avent in the NYT this weekend: One Path to Better Jobs: More Density in Cities. Early on in the piece, Avent seems to be invoking Jane Jacobs’ concept of “squelchers” — those who oppose…
A big vote of confidence in American banking system — from European banks
The Street Light has noted in recent days that European banks have been pouring money in recent months into American banks: The cash assets (i.e. bank deposits) that foreign banks are keeping in the US banking system has risen sharply…
Most recent failed Georgia banks were founded just 5 years ago
I posted already about the failed CreekSide Bank of Woodstock, Georgia, and the failed Patriot Bank of Georgia in Cumming. (Btw, I noticed that since starting this blog in January, I have now made three posts with the identical title:…
Two more Georgia banks shut down by the FDIC
I’ve been writing a lot about the banking crisis in Georgia, and I’m not going to repeat all my concerns in this post. It was predictable that the FDIC would be back in the state this weekend. Southern National Bank…
“U-6” unemployment rate at 16.2%: is that the number we should be reporting?
I’m generally more interested in the level of total employment than in the headline unemployment rate, which is highly dependent on the number of people in the labor force. When Americans give up looking for work, they’re not counted in…
Today’s jobs report — this one really hurts
As regular readers know, I’ve been hitting a lot of the same cautionary notes for several years in my City Talk columns in the Savannah Morning News. I just haven’t been able to see where growth is going to come…
AJC: Atlanta gets first electric car charging station
I’ve been tracking various developments in the world of “green”, sustainability, and transportation generally. So of obvious note from the AJC: Electric car charging station unveiled. From the piece: Atlanta is streamlining its tough permitting procedures to encourage apartment owners,…
Significant declines in homeownership among younger Americans since 2000
Housing economist Tom Lawler has posted some fascinating data about homeownership in this post at Calculated Risk. As Americans have started families later, as they have had more fluid career paths, as they have moved around more before settling, it…
Latest Case-Shiller index shows home prices essentially stable
I’m sure there’s going to be some confusion in the reporting of the Case-Shiller data released today for June (which is a composite of three months: April, May, June). Given the turmoil in the housing market in recent years and…
SMN on continuing struggle of Savannah’s community banks
I have written a lot about the banking crisis in Georgia. By the way, I don’t use the word “crisis” lightly. I’ve been using it for a few years to describe the real estate sector, but the recent debt debate…
Key lines from Bernanke’s speech today at Jackson Hole
Ok, Jackson Hole was apparently not named after Andrew Jackson, who declared war on the Bank of the United States, but there’s still something ironically amusing to me about the Federal Reserve Chairman giving a speech about the tanking economy…
Ezra Klein: What Bernanke should say today (and won’t)
There’s a great sharp piece — funny too — from Ezra Klein today at the Washington Post. Klein did the best coverage of the debt ceiling debate that I followed, and he’s one of the few commentators out there who…