Economy

Inside Greece’s Economic Problems, and Why It Matters to Us

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Over the last 3 or 4 months, several news analysts have described the debt and deficit problems of Greece. Many of these same analysts decided to compare Greek debts and deficits to the United States. They cited data on Greece that shows a high and rising ratio of debt-to-Gross Domestic Product that increases the risk [...]

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How China’s Fiscal Policy Affects American Unemployment

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The Obama administration continues to struggle with Chinese currency politics and policy. Some in Congress are accusing China of currency manipulation, saying the Chinese undervalue their currency, which hurts jobs and companies in the United States. The Chinese currency is known as the Yuan, although it is officially the Renminbi. To Americans, the price of [...]

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Consumer Debt is Down, But What’s the Real Cause?

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The latest figures from the Federal Reserve show that U.S. consumer debt fell by $11.5 billion (5.6%) in February, with revolving credit down $9.4 billion — the third largest drop during the past 32 years, according to MarketWatch. This sounds like good news, right? People are paying down their debts and not relying on their [...]

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How to Get Rid of the Health Insurance Industry

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Will health care reform really keep costs down? In order to find out, we need to know exactly where costs keep on increasing. Shortly before the passage of the new health care bill, a spokesman for Anthem Blue Cross of California said this: “All health plans are in the same situation in trying to deal [...]

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How Much are Replacement Jobs Helping the Economy?

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America?s high unemployment rate will come down as total spending picks up and the economy recovers. Some of the unemployment is the result of the recession, but some is the result of long-term trends. Since 2000, manufacturing jobs have fallen by 5.4 million, and when the economy comes back, manufacturing will not recover much ? [...]

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Where’s the Real Financial Reform?

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The new credit card rules will make it difficult for banks and credit card processors to be tricksters, which is my word for their erratic and arbitrary fees and penalties. But despite the hostile opinions reported in the popular media, banks continue to have their way in financial matters. Take the student loan program, where [...]

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How to Cut the Federal Deficit

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I clipped a news article way back on August 11, 2005 when the Associated Press reported President Bush’s comments on a new transportation-spending bill. According to the article, “President Bush calls the massive $286.4 billion transportation spending bill he signed into law Wednesday a job creator.” The article goes on to describe the bill that [...]

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