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On Tuesday, it was reported that the Obama administration sent one of its top Treasury officials to Europe to tell government officials there that they need to take decisive actions now to solve their fiscal problems or risk causing another global economic crisis. In a statement announcing the trip, the Treasury Department said the U.S. official “will meet with senior government officials in each country to discuss their plans for achieving economic stability and growth in Europe.” No additional details were provided. Can you imagine how those talks are going? “President Obama asked me to tell you that he really...

Other than the stock market crash of 1987, which was seen at the time as the harbinger of another great depression, the worst was avoided due to excellent Federal Reserve policies directed specifically at market psychology. The effectiveness of the Fed aside, it should be noted that the short and medium cycles did not coincide during that period. After the mid-point of the decade of 2000, they did, so that a long-wave theorist could hypothesize that the collapse phase of the long wave was delayed by about a decade, when the three cycles did, in fact, coincide. The confluence of...

Everyone knows the US today is the single most powerful nation on Earth and corners of Europe like Switzerland, Scandinavia and Luxemburg are the richest (yes, Qatar is pretty rich too). But what part, if any, will lead the World in say 200 years from now? Marxists claim the US is heading for a fall. Perhaps it is, but don't expect North Korea or Cuba to take its place. Hundreds of times, I've been telling members of this forum what is right about Scandinavia. We dare to stand up for freedom of speech, we dare to fight Islamofascism, we dare...

“The higher up in the tree the monkey goes, the more of his backside that shows,” goes the maxim. It would be hard to climb higher than Warren Buffett, the world's most celebrated investor. However, as the namesake of the Buffett Rule that imposes higher tax rates on the wealthy, Buffett and his backside dangle precariously “out on a limb.” Residing atop Buffett's tree is New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, known to deliver the best rhetorical broadside, probably because of his broad backside. Last week, Christie buffeted Buffett, forcing him to Think Again. After two years of traumatic budget austerity,...

To begin with, congrats to the US on nice Black Friday shopping statistics! Maybe, the World economy is facing a brighter future despite Obama and the horrid mess of Southern Europe. Over here, in the midst of the Euro crises, it seems Northern Europe is doing pretty well. Especially Germany and my Sweden that is, if we are to believe the most recent statistics, delivered today on the 29th of November. BGA, the Federation of German Wholesale, Foreign Trade and Services, seated in the German capital of Berlin, today announced that it estimates German exports to grow by 12% in...

Do you know why candidates for office tend to be reluctant to propose detailed plans? Because they know the plans will be flyspecked and picked apart by just about everyone. Inviting criticism doesn’t help you to get votes. But fear of criticism prevents you from conceiving solutions to problems. So even if avoidance of criticism helps in propelling you to an election victory, how are you supposed to effectively govern? How are you supposed to fix the problems you told everyone you were going to fix? That’s why I’m happy to see so much criticism of the 9-9-9 plan I’ve...

Praise for Rick Perry’s "Cut, Balance & Grow" Plan See the various comments from people we pay attention to. ________________________________________ “Rick Perry announced his tax plan today, which I’ll go on record as saying I, El Rushbo, think is great. It’s fabulous. I like it. … This is why a lot of people are going to like it. It is a return to fiscal sanity.” Rush Limbaugh on “The Rush Limbaugh Show,” 10/25/11 “This program he’s come up with is a great program, this tax plan. … Perry has come up with one hell of a proposal.” Mark Levin on...

Yesterday on CNN’s State of the Union, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels said the following about the current GOP presidential field: I don't think they're yet talking about the things…that have a lot of zeros attached to them, the ones that are threatening to kill not just an economy but the entire idea of America, the idea of upward mobility from the bottom and tomorrow is better than today…I'll tell you what's bothering me a little bit [is] the president is clearly in very desperate political shape. And it seems more clear every day. And I worry a little bit, ironically,...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Confronted with an economy that has decidedly underperformed this year, economists are scaling back their growth forecasts for 2011 and next year. In their latest forecast, top economists with the National Association for Business Economics predict that the economy will grow 1.7 percent this year -- down from the group's May prediction of 2.8 percent expansion. For 2012, the group is forecasting growth of 2.3 percent, compared to a May forecast of 3.2 percent growth. [Snip] The survey was done before President Barack Obama appeared before Congress on Thursday to unveil a new $447 billion plan to...

Will Barack Obama become the first president in the post-World War II era during whose term real gross domestic product never grew in any quarter at an annual rate greater than 4 percent? With less than optimistic recent forecasts from the Federal Reserve System's Federal Open Market Committee and the Congressional Budget Office, it now seems like a very real possibility. Having been inaugurated in January 2009, Obama has served as president in 10 quarters. Without doubt, he came into office in a severe recession. In three of the quarters of 2008, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis,...

Gain of 12,900 private-sector jobs is largest one-month gain since September 2003 MADISON – Department of Workforce Development (DWD) Secretary Scott Baumbach announced today preliminary state jobs and unemployment data for the month of June 2011 that show the Wisconsin employment picture continues to brighten. “Wisconsin has added 39,300 private-sector jobs since Governor Walker declared Wisconsin open for business,” Secretary Baumbach said. “Jobseekers and employers alike are reaping the economic benefits of the business-friendly environment that Governor Walker is advancing, and we encourage jobseekers to keep pursuing these new employment opportunities.” The latest preliminary estimates show a net gain of...

How the U.S. Gov't Is Choking Off Access to Traditional Safe Havens By Chris Weber, editor, The Weber Global Opportunities Report Tuesday, June 14, 2011 Everywhere I go in the financial world in Europe, I hear the same thing: The U.S. is shooting itself in the face. The problem is the regulations the U.S. now insists every nation impose on U.S. companies or people seeking to do business or lower their taxes. For instance, there are two Swiss cantons that are using low corporate taxes to lure companies to place their headquarters there. The more famous one is Zug, but...

BERLIN (AP) - The German economy, Europe's biggest, grew by an unexpectedly strong 1.5 percent in the first quarter as investment and spending at home combined with already-buoyant exports, official figures showed Friday. The quarterly rise was above economists' forecasts for 1 percent and nearly four times the 0.4 percent growth recorded in the last three months of last year, when economic activity was hindered by harsh winter weather. The January-March figure was the strongest since a 2.1 percent spurt in last year's second quarter, when the German economy was just emerging from a savage recession. Following the robust first...

Economics: As the U.S. languishes, Chile posted a head-turning 15.2% yearly gain in GDP in March, and forecasts for the year are rising. Why can't we do that here? A year ago, Chile lay in rubble, victim of the world's fifth most powerful earthquake. So Chile's 15.2% growth is a big bounce from a bad setback. But it shouldn't be dismissed as an anomaly. It's a showy number, but not the only one. The same day Chile released its data, Goldman Sachs raised its 2011 growth forecast for the country to 6.4% from 6%. In its annual regional business index,...

A quick taste of what the modern environmentalist movement actually believes, courtesy of the Energy Action Coalition’s Power Shift 2011 conference which took place recently in Washington DC featuring Van Jones, Nancy Pelosi and other speakers. It’s really amazing how many of these leftist movements – green movements, labor movements, etc. – feature followers who are almost cultists. They aren’t independent thinkers. They really don’t know a whole lot about the topic they’re activists for. They get together en masse to cheer on hip, charismatic leaders but often can’t answer even the most basic of questions about the policies and...

.S. crude oil prices soared by 8.5 percent Tuesday, stunning financial markets. The financial media fretted that the oil price shock from the Middle East turmoil would slow or stop the fragile economic recovery. Crude oil prices soared even though gas prices at the pump are already the highest in any February since 1990. The reaction was swift, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling more than 178 points (1.4 percent) and NASDAQ and S&P 500 both also falling by more than 2 percent. This morning, with Libya teetering on the brink of civil war, gas prices continued rising. While...

Let's face it. We Westerners and our allies can afford nice cars or at least plenty of cars, Chinese made jacuzzis and nice furniture - but we actually produce lesser and lesser amounts of the goods we purchase. Wall Street, London and Frankfurt owns a lot, yes, but is that equal to putting Western capital to work? Furthermore, who actually owns all of this wealth that places like Inner London bathe in? What does Germany, USA and the rest of the Western World of today manufacture that is unique and selling? Not much really. Some luxury cars, yes. Even if...

NOTE The following text is a quote: www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-obama-and-president-medvedev-russia-us-russia-business-summit Home • Briefing Room • Speeches & Remarks The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release June 24, 2010 Remarks by President Obama and President Medvedev of Russia at the U.S.-Russia Business Summit U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Washington, D.C. 3:08 P.M. EDT PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, good afternoon, everybody. It is a pleasure to be here with my friend and partner, President Medvedev, and I want to thank him again for his leadership, especially his vision for an innovative Russia that’s modernizing its economy, including deeper economic ties between our...

What's rapid economic growth to a Democrat? Or truth? Or fairness? Hillary Clinton gave us pretty good indication of all three on May 27th, when she said: "The rich are not paying their fair share in any nation that is facing the kind of employment issues [America currently does] - whether it's individual, corporate or whatever [form of] taxation forms." She then went on to cite Brazil as a paragon of economic growth - and taxation: "Brazil has the highest tax-to-GDP rate in the Western Hemisphere and guess what - they're growing like crazy." But, as with any "fact" a...

Among the Polish leaders lost in the plane crash in Russia last weekend was Slawomir Skrzypek, head of the National Bank of Poland. Skrzypek was the architect behind the scenes of what has been Poland’s economic success over the last couple of years. Americans know all too well the effects of the big drop in economic growth we suffered last year. That same fate has befallen virtually all of Europe. While Europe’s GDP has fallen by 2.2 percent over the last year, Poland’s grew by 3.1 percent. It is quite a feat for a country's economy to grow while its...

Energy: A new study shows that our reluctance to develop domestic energy will cost the beleaguered U.S. economy trillions in opportunity costs, reduce our gross domestic product and increase our trade deficit. From trying to stimulate jobs in nonexistent ZIP codes at great expense to worshiping the false gods of climate change, our biggest deficit these days may be in the area of common sense. A new study shows that many of our wounds are self-inflicted as we forgo the wealth and jobs to be found in our waters and under our feet. The study by Science Applications International Corp....

Israel's economic recovery accelerates The Central Bureau of Statistics reported that GDP grew 4.4% in the fourth quarter of 2009. The Central Bureau of Statistics today reported that Israel's GDP grew by 4.4% at an annual rate in the fourth quarter of 2009. GDP grew on a seasonally adjusted basis by 2.9% at an annual rate in the second half of last year, after a 1.6% fall in GDP at an annual rate in the first half of 2009. The 4.4% rise in GDP in the fourth quarter of 2009 followed a 3% rise in GDP in the third quarter...

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives vowed on Monday to seal a coalition deal, including tax cuts, with the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) within a month after Sunday's election victory. Merkel's conservatives won a parliamentary majority with the FDP, her partner of choice, enabling her to end her awkward four-year-old partnership with the Social Democrats (SPD). "Considering the strength of the junior partner, (the ideas) of that party will penetrate negotiations. That includes the simplification of the income tax system as well as tax relief," said Heino Ruland of Ruland Research in a note.

VIDEO: Yesterday, The Center for Freedom and Prosperity Foundation (CF&P) released a video on the empirical relationship between the size of government and economic growth. Entitled "The Empirical Evidence Against Big Government," the educational video comes at a crucial time as government spending rose rapidly during the Bush years and Obama is continuing the same failed policies.

JOHANNESBURG (AFP) – South Africa will not sign any deal that would compromise the country's economic development chances at the upcoming climate change conference in Copenhagen, the environment minister said Tuesday. "All negotiators are there to pursue national interests ... and South Africa is no different in this regard. If a deal is going to compromise our national interest we are not going to support it 100 percent," Buyelwa Sonjica told journalist. In the lead up to the crucial climate summit in December which hopes to thrash out a new climate treaty, Sonjica said it was unrealistic for developing countries...

The problem with not having kids Saving the planet for the next generation by not having a next generation is a bad idea Anything happen while I was gone? Oh, yeah. The collapse of the global economy. Armageddon outta here. The ecopalypse is upon us. Down south, President Obama has abandoned the gaseous uplift of “the audacity of hope” and warns we’re on the brink of the abyss. In the old New Deal, FDR warned that “we have nothing to fear but fear itself.” For the new New Deal, President Hopeychangey says we have nothing but fear itself. Get used...

With today's economy, wouldn't it be nice if we knew how to make an economy grow? To know what works and what doesn't? Well, we do. We just prefer to ignore the truth.What works is economic freedom. What doesn't work is more government. I'm sorry that those words sound simplistic and like Republican "ideology" (or at least what used to be Republican ideology - before the Bailout Fairy arrived). But they have the benefit of being true. If you were to start from scratch, ignoring all ideology and going simply by the evidence of what produces prosperity, you would come...

"How can you spend hundreds of millions of dollars on contraceptives? How does that stimulate the economy?"

“Cutting taxes increases economic growth, which in turn increases government revenue.” I have heard that phrase more times than I can count from more Republicans than I even remember. It has been the central theme with which the Republicans have built their reputation, and basically the only thing that they have done in Washington that has matched up with their rhetoric. There’s a problem, though. And I want you to keep in mind when I say this, that I am a libertarian-Republican who would just as well like to see the income tax abolished. I repeat, I hate taxes, and...

Richard Rahn examines which federal tax does the most harm to economic growth Jack Kemp and Peter Ferrara argue why McCain's tax plan will promote economic growth... HSA style Medicaid reforms

The American economy might surprise us by the year-end. Many economists and businessmen believe that although the current slowdown could turn into a recession, a financial collapse is now highly unlikely. Bruce Kasman, the chief economist at JPMorgan, is an optimist. He believes that even though the economy has been hit by some big problems, it also has strengths that will encourage recovery. (American exports, which now account for most of the country's economic growth, are booming.) But Kasman is a short-term optimist; he has a much gloomier view of the longer term. For the past 15 years, the U.S....

Data fuel fears of US stagflation By Krishna Guha in Washington and Daniel Pimlott and Michael Mackenzie in New York Published: February 20 2008 15:32 | Last updated: February 21 2008 01:13 Federal Reserve policymakers have cut their forecasts for growth this year but marked up their estimates for inflation, the central bank revealed on Wednesday. The new Fed forecasts came as data showed prices rose at an unexpectedly rapid pace in January, raising fears that the US was experiencing at least a temporary bout of stagflation. Both the headline rate of inflation and the underlying core rate – which...

Norway's oil-fuelled economic growth has outpaced all other western countries durng the past four years, and statistics experts think the good times will keep on rolling.

France's President Nicolas Sarkozy says he wants to go "much further in loosening up the 35-hour" working week. Mr Sarkozy also said he wanted to tighten up competition between firms to make consumer prices fall. In a speech to the employers' organisation Medaf, he said he was not planning to sit around waiting for international growth to improve.

Analysis: Mideast held back by cheap fuel WASHINGTON, Aug. 24 Faced with high international oil and gas prices, some Middle Eastern countries are struggling to squirm out from under hugely popular, but economically crushing, energy subsidies. Nations across the region, from Iran to Egypt, have for years been burdened with fuel subsidies that sap national budgets, cut into economic investment in other sectors and interrupt serious reforms. Oil price increases have been a double-edged sword in the region, bolstering national budgets to permit continued subsidies, but also allowing the oil-rich countries to put off economic reforms, which could lead to...

New research shows us that people around the world, including in the West, are satisfied with their lives and are enjoying a rising quality of life. So why are westerners so pessimistic, asks Nima Sanandaji, of think-tank Captus. Our planet is a happier place these days. That, at least, is what the Pew Research Center is telling us. Their latest survey of global attitudes in 47 nations has found a number of trends that are worth analyzing. According to Pew, people in the developing world are growing ever more satisfied with their personal and financial situations. In Latin America, 59...

AS EVERY actor knows, it is easy to be typecast. The role assigned to Europe for the past decade has been that of sclerotic under-achiever: a slow-growing, work-shy and ageing continent that is destined to be left behind by the United States, China and India. Unnoticed by the audience, Europe, under new political leadership first in Germany and Italy and now in France and Britain, has changed the plot. Since the end of 2006 euro-area GDP has outpaced America's: in 2007, it should grow by 2.7%, ahead of both America and Japan. The euro is at new highs against the...

A proposed North American “super corridor” would relieve overburdened highways and promote economic growth in three countries, supporters say. But others wonder whether the proposal might bring in cheap exports and put unsafe Mexican trucks on U.S. roads. The issue takes center stage at a three-day conference that begins today in Fort Worth, Texas. More than 350 transportation, logistics and economic development specialists from the United States, Canada and Mexico are meeting. The conference is sponsored by Dallas-based North America’s SuperCorridor Coalition. The nonprofit coalition, whose members include public- and private-sector organizations, wants to develop an integrated transportation system linking...

In the first of three special reports, Bridget Kendall, the BBC's diplomatic correspondent, reports from Russia on life and attitudes in the provincial city of Nizhny Novgorod. Nizhny Novgorod, like much of Russia, has changed significantly At 7 am on a sunny spring morning I step down onto the platform in Nizhny Novgorod. The other passengers on the overnight train from Moscow are well dressed and carrying briefcases - businessmen and women returning from meetings in the capital, it seems.

Sweden's economy will continue to grow at a healthy pace, according to a new prognosis from the OECD, but inflation poses a threat. The Swedish economy grew by 4.7 percent last year - the highest growth level for more than 30 years. This year it will fall slightly to 4.3 percent, dropping again to 3.5 percent in 2008. Even that figure would be high by historical standards, and OECD economists said they saw few signs of weakness. The government was praised for cutting taxes for low earners and for its reforms to the unemployment benefit system. "The labour market reforms...

Ireland's economic success is no secret. The "Celtic Tiger" economy has achieved almost mythical status. Ireland's fortunes have been transformed, and the rest of the world has sat up and watched with interest. Unsurprisingly, many countries have flown delegations to Dublin to find out how it has been done. And Ireland, a place renowned for the warmth of its welcome, has opened the door to those inquisitive visitors. One government official recounts the story of how officials from the Baltic states still refer back to a trip they made in 2004 with great fondness. The current Foreign Minister, Dermot Ahern,...

Presently, the gap is widening between the world's biggest economy, the EU and the world's second biggest one, the US. While the US GDP development presently is a very weak one, the EU economy is now looking healthier than ever before. So far so good, but will this development continue? There's much to be said for it. Despite the strength of the Euro, the traditionally export dependent European economy presently seems to have little problems gearing up for steady growth. The benefits of cheaper imports, the excellent EU-Asia trade opportunities as well as the advantages of a single European currency...

Russia may stop implementing a key defence treaty because of concerns over US plans for a missile shield in Europe, President Vladimir Putin said. Mr Putin made the threat during his annual address to parliament - which he said would be his last as president. He also hit out at an influx of foreign money which he said was being used to meddle in Russia's internal affairs. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice dismissed Russian concerns over the missile shield as "ludicrous". BBC diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus says Mr Putin's speech marks a significant raising of diplomatic stakes. The Russian...

It's that time again, and I was thinking of the old joke about paying your taxes with a smile. The punch line is that the IRS doesn't accept smiles. They want your money. So it's not that funny, but there is reason to smile this tax season. The results of the experiment that began when Congress passed a series of tax-rate cuts in 2001 and 2003 are in. Supporters of those cuts said they would stimulate the economy. Opponents predicted ever-increasing budget deficits and national bankruptcy unless tax rates were increased, especially on the wealthy. In fact, Treasury statistics show...

"Creative class flies to Sweden Sweden is second to none when it comes to creativity in business and is "a talent magnet for the world’s most educated workers", according to business magazine Forbes. These claims are backed up with statistics culled from the book The Flight of the Creative Class by Richard Florida, which measures creativity in terms of talent, technology and flexibility. When these qualities were compiled in a global creativity index, Sweden came out on top of the pile, just ahead of Japan, Finland and the United States. In an article singing the praises of Sweden's "well-educated citizenry",...

Dismantling of the nation-state is not intrinsic to the European Union. Nonetheless, the prime idea behind the EU project is to, once and for all, do away with the traditional orientation towards autarchy and economic self sufficience that once was the name of the game among European countries (and an underlying cause to WW1 and WW2 and many other wars). The EU is a free market project - as opposed to obsolete national Mercantilist and Protectionist strategies. In many ways, The US serves as an impressing prototype for the EU. Europeans ought to look up to the US because it...

The EU disposes of 154 nuclear reactors altogether. The US has 104, Japan 55 ones. This more or less goes hand in hand with the respective populations (in neither case a number of reactors very far from one for every 3 million inhabitants). Is 154 reactors enough for 496,000,000 Europeans? More and more EU citizens are beginning to think it's NOT. The biggest non-EU European country, Russia apparently want more nuclear power too. Russia are presently more than DOUBLING their number of reactors, going from 29 to 59 ones. This is being accomplished with giant loans from the EU. The...

The article, from one of the world's leading newspapers, touches on what a blessing saying "hasta la vista" to socialism really can be - not to mention future prospects! Ask the people who live in the hottest city of Europe - and they don't speak "cockney" or french with a Paris accent. The fall of Communism in Russia and China in combination with the orientation towards pro-capitalism of Scandinavia has already lead to a explosion of trade between the world's 14th biggest economy, Russia, the world's 4th biggest economy, China and the 8th biggest one, the Scandinavian countries (Source: IMF...

U.S. economic growth slowed to a crawl in the third quarter, advancing at a pace of just 1.6 percent, the worst in more than three years. The latest snapshot of the economy, released by the Commerce Department on Friday, showed that the slumping housing market figured prominently in the economy's dramatic loss of momentum. Investment in homebuilding was cut by the biggest amount since early 1991. The reading on gross domestic product was weaker than the 2.1 percent pace many economists were forecasting. Gross domestic product measures the value of all goods and services produced within the United States and...

I'm far from satisfied, but Sweden is presently a shining example of what all Europe ought to be like: The Article: "The current situation in the Swedish economy In the June Inflation Report we envisaged continuing good international economic activity. We assessed that growth would remain high in Asia, which has developed strongly in recent years. The strong growth in China is one explanation for the upswing in Asia. The expansion in China has contributed, for instance, to the recovery we now see in Japan. At the same time, the US economy has remained an important driving force behind the...