| Free Trial |
| Submit site feedback |
Weigh the evidence for the United States nearing a trough in the recession. Among the positive signs: upticks in consumer spending and sentiment, housing and durable goods, and a small drop in initial claims of unemployment, which in the past have reached a trough a month or two before the rest of the economy. What else points to an upturn, or a continued downturn, here and abroad?
-- John Maggs, NationalJournal.com
Below is a sampling of analysis of the new bank rescue plan by your colleagues Adam Posen, Jeffrey Frankel, Simon Johnson and Peter Wallison. Does the plan give away too much to investors, go too easy on banks, or squander public funds that might be needed more later?
-- John Maggs, NationalJournal.com
6 responses: James K. Galbraith, Charles Calomiris, Adam Posen, Jeffrey Frankel, Simon Johnson, Peter Wallison
Do recent events suggest that the tenets of capitalism and free market theory need to be re-examined? The New York Times has suggested that not much soul-searching is happening yet at economics departments. Does the financial meltdown, the housing bubble, or the over-leveraging of businesses and consumers, point to fundamental flaws in market-based capitalism? Does it point to particular alterations?
-- John Maggs, NationalJournal.com
7 responses: Peter Wallison, James K. Galbraith, Mark Bloomfield, Gary Burtless, Nicolas Véron, Rob Atkinson, Alan Meltzer
Was President Obama's economic forecast, as prepared by Christina Romer for the budget, too rosy? It estimated that the economy would shrink 1.2 percent this year and grow 3.2 percent in 2010, then grow at greater than 4 percent in 2011. Weigh the pros and cons of an optimistic forecast during a bad recession.
-- John Maggs, NationalJournal.com
5 responses: Norbert Walter, Mark Bloomfield, James K. Galbraith, Gary Burtless, Grover Norquist
How much of a factor in the downturn have been sticky wages and prices? Can you point to sticky wages affecting the level of employment in particular industries, or sticky prices further dampening demand for some goods and services? Is there anything that government could do to effectively unstick wages or prices? Does the incidence of stickiness indicate that unionization (which is at historically low levels) isn't as much of a factor in sticky wages as once thought?
-- John Maggs, NationalJournal.com
