For the economic theorists in the crowd….
Category: U.S. Economy
Declining Crop Yields
Michael Roberts, a resource economist at North Carolina State University, takes a look at what he calls ‘ a pretty rapid slowdown in productivity growth’.
http://greedgreengrains.blogspot.com/2011/05/declining-crop-yields.html
The Great Ephemeralization of the U.S. Economy
I’ve been doing some research on what our society is ‘spending money on’. I also follow GDP (and some other proposed economy measuring methods)… realizing GDP is a very strange measure of the US economy (using the Webster’s concept of ‘economy’ as how we manage our society).
This is an interesting article on GDP…and what is called ‘ephemeralization’ of the economy. It is a very important social concept. The article points out that soon less than 10% of ‘the economy’ will be agriculture and manufacturing.
http://timothyblee.com/2011/04/26/the-great-ephemeralization/
This says to me our use of money is rapidly losing meaning (and, therefore, value and knowledge education to younger generations)!…which is an enormous epistemological problem for our society.
America and Small Business
WASHINGTON – August 3 – Contrary to popular perceptions, the United States has a much smaller small-business sector (as a share of total employment) than other countries at a comparable level of economic development, according to a new report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) . The CEPR researchers observe that the undersized U.S. small business sector is consistent with the view that high health care costs discourage small business formation, since start-ups in other countries can tap into government-funded health care systems.
“We think of ourselves as offering the most business-friendly environment in the world, but almost every other rich country in the world does a much better job creating and sustaining small businesses,” said John Schmitt, a senior economist at CEPR and an author of the report.
The study, “An International Comparison of Small Business Employment,” reviews the most recently available, internationally comparable data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to measure the share of small businesses in 22 rich democracies. The report finds:
The United States has the second lowest share of self-employed workers (7.2 percent).
The United States has among the lowest shares of employment in small businesses in manufacturing – only 11.1 percent of the U.S. manufacturing workforce is in enterprises with fewer than 20 employees. Eighteen other rich countries have a higher share of manufacturing employment in small enterprises, including Germany (13.0 percent), Sweden (14.4 percent), and France (18.0 percent).
U.S. small businesses are particularly weak in high-tech. The United States, for example, has the second lowest share of computer-related service employment in firms with fewer than 100 employees and the third lowest share of research and development related employment in firms with fewer than 100 employees.
“In the rest of the world, entrepreneurs who want to start a new business don’t have to think twice about where they and their employees will get health insurance,” said Schmitt. “In the United States, talented people thinking about starting a new business often have to choose between following their dream or going without health insurance.”
Exacting Change
An interesting article on the “Politics” of change.
Green Jobs
The pursuit of so-called “green jobs”-employment that contributes to protecting the environment and reducing humanity’s carbon footprint-will be a key economic driver of the 21st century. “Climate-proofing” the global economy will involve large-scale investments in new technologies, equipment, buildings, and infrastructure, which will provide a major stimulus for much-needed new employment and an opportunity for retaining and transforming existing jobs.
The number of green jobs is on the rise. The renewable energy sector has seen rapid expansion in recent years, with current employment in renewables and supplier industries estimated at a conservative 2.3 million worldwide. The wind power industry employs some 300,000 people, the solar photovoltaics (PV) sector an estimated 170,000, and the solar thermal industry more than 600,000.More than 1 million jobs are found in the biofuels industry growing and processing a variety of feedstocks into ethanol and biodiesel.
Watch Walmart Grow
The Michalenka Plan
Our CPA, Henry Michalenka, has been helping households, individuals, and small businesses for thirty years. He’s honest, smart, and…from years of dealing with every financial entity on the planet…cynically funny.
Hank has an alternative plan to the Bush Administration bailout.
The Michalenka Plan will give the $700 B to American households (he figures it would be $10,000 to $15,000 per household). He will let the market decide what to do with the banks…which most likely means bankruptcy and reorganization. Stocks will further deteriorate….people will re-evaluate which investments (and people) are investment worthy…folks will buy back in to new companies at low P/Es.
The market will recover with money being invested in better companies with more responsible management.
P.S. About the credit crunch that so worries Mr. Paulson…don’t forget that retail banks still have significant good mortgages and accounts.
American Presidential Politics
Last night I listened to parts of the Democratic National Convention – including the speeches of Al Gore and Barack Obama. I find Mr. Obama a good orator, and he and his wife appear understandable and sincere.
There is something about the whole Convention that troubles me (and I would guess that I will have the same trouble with the Republican National Convention). The Convention gives the Party a national stage (I watched on CNN so do not know how much the other networks carried). Here is an enormous opportunity to lay out your case before the American people.
They use their time, however, to have hundreds of speakers say the same thing!
Al Gore, who knows a great deal about the environment and energy, could lay out a Democratic vision, platform, and program…he does not (other than to repeat a series of dire statistics). Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island could lay out a vision, platform, and program on the military and international affairs…he does not.
I believe the American people want to know the ‘nuts and bolts’ of what would be proposed if Barack Obama was elected president….and they want to hear it from the horse’s mouth. Mr. Obama spent a few minutes on those issues, and, for me, it was the most compelling part of his speech. Given his wonderful ability to speak, he crafted a few skillful platform issues. It was great! I’ve got a sense of what he would attempt.
Now on to the Republican Convention.
Happy Birthday Social Security
The Social Security system turns 73 this month. The Providence Journal carried an editorial this morning about Social Security. The editorial points out…in addition to the $10 trillion-plus shortfall…that the program creates no wealth. It merely pays current obligations with our withheld income.
Because it is a politically managed system, the government can change how much it withholds (it has increased payroll taxes 17 times since 1935), how it pays benefits, who benefits… As the editorial writer says, the only thing you can count on is that it is a massive drain on the earnings from your work.
The writer makes the very interesting observation that, in order to ensure a ‘retirement’ for everyone, we are depriving young workers of their ability -and freedom- to plan their own futures.
He believes Social Security is morally irredeemable.
Richard Pace 