The Wall Street Journal Online today features a
discussion I had about peak oil with Robert
Kaufmann, professor of geography at Boston University. Here are some excerpts.
Further thoughts about the latest economic statistics
I’ve had a little more time to ponder the meaning of some of the economic data released last
week, and here’s what I’ve come up with.
Which came first: the savings chicken or the deficit egg?
David Altig at Macroblog raises some
very thoughtful questions about the relation between the drop in the U.S. saving rate and the
current account deficit.
New GDP data and recession probabilities
The Bureau of Economic Analysis today
released its advance estimates for the second quarter, reporting real GDP growth of 3.4%, implying
a very slight increase in the recession probability index to 4.7%.
Time for optimism about Social Security
Precisely because several of the initiatives on Social Security seem to have stalled, the
time may be ripe for some real progress to be made.
Why the Fed needs to slow down
The Fed has promised to keep on raising interest rates at a “measured pace.” I just prefer
they’d measure their pace a little more slowly.
How many people should be working in America?
Quite a few commentators have suggested that the labor force participation rate is a much
better indicator of the health of the U.S. labor market than is the unemployment rate. I feel
that quite a few commentators have this wrong.
Discussions with economists about peak oil: Chapter 3
Thanks to the comments from many of you, I think I now have a better idea about why
economists have a hard time communicating with others about the issue of peak oil. But I’m not
quite sure what to do about it.
No blackouts yet
Thank you, fellow Californians, for paying due diligence to your conserve-o-meter.
Unwinding the deficit spin
Updated tax data are in and the spinners will spin. But the numbers can speak for
themselves.