Economics

In the two previous posts in my amateur exploration of the stimulus (GDP, and then Recession), I explained what a recession is and what many economists think causes one. Now I'm going to try to explain my understanding of what a solution has to do, and why some people think a stimulus package is a good idea. (This series of posts is my first attempt to write anything about … [Read more...] about Thinking About the Stimulus: Spending

This is the 2nd post of my amateur exploration of the reasoning behind the stimulus bill. I think I do okay writing about microeconomic issues, but this is my first real attempt at discussing macroeconomics. There's a distinct possibility that some of this is very badly wrong, or worse, so badly written that it's not even wrong. My last post explained what happens to Gross … [Read more...] about Thinking About the Stimulus: Fear Itself

I want to bloviate about the economy and the stimulus a bit, so I'm going to try to explain our current unpleasantness as I understand it. My economic knowledge is purely amateur, so if you think I'm wrong, let me know. (And if you think my explanation is so bad it's not even wrong, let me know that too.) The U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is, roughly speaking, the value of … [Read more...] about Thinking About the Stimulus: GDP

Obama is displaying some of that weird anti-corporate attitude that has been worrying me: President Barack Obama issued a withering critique Thursday of Wall Street corporate behavior, calling it "the height of irresponsibility" for employees to be paid more than $18 billion in bonuses last year while their crumbling financial sector received a bailout from … [Read more...] about Irresponsible and Shameful

Adam Lass at Contrarian Profits has this grim advice: The deep recession expected in 2009 will likely lead to higher rates of crime. Adam Lass says investors can play this trend by picking up shares of commercial jails. Florida-based Geo Group (NYSE:GEO) operates in several countries and is rapidly expanding its detention facilities. Adam says investors could be in line to … [Read more...] about The Hedge From Hell