If you’re prone to worry about where the economy’s headed, last week’s developments weren’t very reassuring.
Author Archives: James_Hamilton
Taxing the 1%
Trying to prevent an increase in tax rates on the richest 1% of Americans looks to me like a losing strategy for the Republicans.
Implications of the recent rise in oil prices
The price of West Texas Intermediate has risen almost $10 a barrel since the start of September, and briefly bumped back above $100 a barrel this week. Here’s why I think that development may not be as worrisome for the U.S. economy as it might sound.
Links for 2011-11-15
Quick summaries of a few items of interest.
Greece, Italy, and financial stability
The drama began in Greece. Where is it going to end?
Decisions, decisions
The U.S. State Department received the application from TransCanada for permission to build the Keystone XL Pipeline Extension over 3 years ago. Today, the White House made a firm decision not to decide just yet, with the State Department indicating that an actual decision is at least another year away.
Nice to see the President is focused like a laser on how to get Americans back to work.
Shovel ready
Some infrastructure spending is more stimulative than others.
Autos, housing, and the business cycle
Here I offer some observations on what’s been holding back the recovery.
Geography and income
Running a little behind, so I decided today to reprint something I wrote 4 years ago as an excuse to call attention to some charts I still think are pretty interesting.
Home Affordable Refinance Program
Last week the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac jointly announced changes to the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) with the goal of making it easier for some households to refinance their mortgages at lower interest rates. Here I offer some thoughts on this proposal.