Trust in the federal government has now reached an all time record low according to CNN’s polling.  The previous low was set back in 1994. From CNN: A CNN/ORC International Poll released Wednesday morning indicates that only 15 percent of Americans say they trust the government in Washington to do what’s right just about always [...]

Official unemployment is at 9.1 percent, and the American people think unemployment is the most important problem in the country. That is why it is important for regular people to know that high employment is not solely dictated by some “invisible hand of the market.” It can be greatly affected by the policy choices made [...]

A large plurality of Americans, 39 percent, say unemployment is the most important problem facing the country today. “Unemployment” recently managed to take the top spot away from the issue of “the economy in general” in Gallup’s polling. While I think it is noteworthy unemployment as an issue has gone up steadily, I personally find [...]

Official unemployment has been stuck around 9 percent for 16 months, and recent signs indicate our economic growth has stalled. And for over two years now, the American people  have called jobs/economy the top problem in this country. In this environment, many people on the left are happy that a Democratic president asked Congress to [...]

The latest long term budget projections from the Congressional Budget Office assume that unemployment will be very high for years to come. From the CBO: CBO expects that the recovery will continue but that real (inflation-adjusted) GDP will stay well below the economy’s potential—a level that corresponds to a high rate of use of labor [...]

One would think given that the level of deficit hysteria in Washington has reached such a fevered pitch that the American electorate was clamoring for our elected officials to make the federal debt their only priority. The reality according to Gallup is the opposite. The American people are almost exclusively worried about the economy and [...]

Imagine if five of the 12 voting members of the Federal Open Market Committee were selected exclusively by unemployed Americans, instead of the current system of having them chosen by rich bank executives. This could be done. Currently five of the voting members on the FOMC, which sets monetary policy, are presidents of one of [...]

With Washington now terrifyingly obsessed with immediate austerity, despite the UK being a perfect example of how misguided such a move is right now, it is important for millions to realize that our economy is in no way back to stable. Two recent stories are great reminders that while the economy probably seems fine for [...]

There seems to be a broad acknowledgement that the Federal Reserve has made the terrible decision to randomly change their goals by making their new top priority maintaining a one-percent inflation target, instead of the old understanding, two-percent inflation, or trying to achieve full employment, despite 8.8 percent official unemployment. I will let Paul Krugman [...]

At this point, since it seems the absolute best case scenario for Democrats in this budget fight is that, by the end of today or the beginning of Monday, Congress passes a budget containing around $38 billion in immediate cuts to domestic programs over the next few months, but is free of any major policy [...]