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The Truth About the Economy

The Truth About the Economy

Portraits of the Occupy San Diego movement | SignOnSanDiego.com On Monday, the Occupy San Diego movement will mark a milestone many locals may not have seen coming: Its first month of occupation. True to the word’s double meaning, camping out on downtown city property has become a job for dozens of demonstrators who protest corporate greed and economic inequality by day, and sleep (or not) outside the Civic Theatre at night. The group has grown smaller and scruffier, and its goals have yet to crystallize since the first march drew 1,500 people on Oct. 7. Subsequent city crackdowns on 100-plus tents led to 53 arrests. Occupiers still hold committee meetings and teach-ins during the day and meet as a general assembly (or G.A.) to set ground rules for themselves each night. Ever-present police officers monitor them at rest on a patch of grass off Third Avenue. Each morning, the movement begins anew. Mike Garcia, 48, of La Mesa, drug-abuse counselor Garcia, a mainstay since day one, serves as a liaison with city government.

World’s Most Prestigious Financial Agency – Called the “Central Banks’ Central Bank” – Slams U.S. Economic Policy The “Central Banks’ Central Bank” Slams the Federal Reserve The central banks’ central bank, the Bank of International Settlements or “BIS” – which is the world’s most prestigious mainstream financial body – has slammed the policy of America’s economic leaders. This is especially dramatic given that the banks own the Federal Reserve, and that the Federal Reserve and other central banks – in turn – own BIS. In other words, BIS is criticizing one of its main owners. Economics professor Michael Hudson notes: Paul Krugman has urged the Federal Reserve to simply lend banks an amount equal to their bad loans and negative equity (debts in excess of the market price of assets). For background, see this and this. Too Big Has Failed BIS has also slammed “too big to fail” banks: The report [by BIS] was particularly scathing in its assessment of governments’ attempts to clean up their banks. See this for background. Interest Rates Have Been Kept Too Low The Telegraph noted:

Local "Occupy" protestors pull cash out of big banks SAN DIEGO (CNS) - Occupy San Diego protestors took to the streets Saturday in a "Big Banks Funeral March," in solidarity with National Bank Transfer Day, aimed at encouraging people to switch from large banks to credit unions. As the protest entered its 30th day, about 200 demonstrators were asked to wear black and carry cardboard coffins with bank's names on them, as they marched from the Civic Center to Petco Park, then to a Bank of America branch. The march was held as part of National Bank Transfer Day to "ensure that large banking institutions will always remember the fifth of November," according to a statement from the event's organizers. "If we shift our funds from the for-profit banking institutions in favor of not-for-profit credit unions before this date we will send a clear message that conscious consumers won't support companies with unethical business practices. It's time to invest in local growth," said Occupy San Diego member Kali Katt.

"American Pie in the Sky" by Nouriel Roubini Exit from comment view mode. Click to hide this space NEW YORK – While the risk of a disorderly crisis in the eurozone is well recognized, a more sanguine view of the United States has prevailed. Even this year, the consensus got it wrong, expecting a recovery to above-trend annual GDP growth – faster than 3%. The reality is the opposite: for several reasons, growth will slow further in the second half of 2012 and be even lower in 2013 – close to stall speed. Second, expectations of the “fiscal cliff” – automatic tax increases and spending cuts set for the end of this year – will keep spending and growth lower through the second half of 2012. Third, the fiscal cliff would amount to a 4.5%-of-GDP drag on growth in 2013 if all tax cuts and transfer payments were allowed to expire and draconian spending cuts were triggered. Fourth, private consumption growth in the last few quarters does not reflect growth in real wages (which are actually falling).

Balboa Park 2015 agreement endorsed - SignOnSanDiego.com Less than four years off, planning the centennial of San Diego's 1915 expo in Balboa Park picked up speed Wednesday as a City Council committee endorsed a framework for running what members called a "magnificent" and "terrific" opportunity to boost the economy and remind the world of San Diego's assets. Forwarded to the full council was a memorandum of understanding outlining the responsibilities of the city and the newly formed Balboa Park Celebration nonprofit corporation, assigned to run a year-long party. About $750,000 in tourist taxes and $300,000 from local foundations has been set aside as seed money toward an as-yet unspecified budget with the balance expected to come from sponsorships, admissions, earned income and donations. Any profit from the events is to be set aside for capital improvements in the park. "It's now understood and known that this year is going to have a really magnificent event in Balboa Park," said Councilman Todd Gloria, who represents the park.

The Recovery According to Ed “We are not in a recession” Lazear In Tuesday’s WSJ, Edward Lazear argued that we are now experiencing the “Worst Economic Recovery in History”. Before dissecting this remarkable document, it would behoove the reader to recall that while he was Chair of George W. Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers, he stated unequivocally in May 2008 (also in the pages of the WSJ): “The data are pretty clear that we are not in a recession.” He wrote this less than five months before US GDP took a remarkable dive; in 2008Q4 q/q growth was -8.9 percent SAAR. Was the Slow Recovery Such a Surprise? Lazear writes: Indeed, that was the expectation [that the economy was in rapid catch-up mode and would eventually regain all that had been lost]. After recounting the Reinhart-Rogoff thesis, Lazear essentially dismisses it, apparently in favor of John Taylor’s argument that the crisis was Fed induced. I want to take exception to the argument that the expectation was for a rapid recovery. Why was the increase in unemployment relatively muted?

Will 2015 expo make Balboa Park a 5-star attraction? - SignOnSanDiego.com The 2015 celebration might include projections of historic photos onto park buildings on El Prado. / BRC Imagination Arts (For all things Balboa Park related, go to balboapark.org. San Diego’s Panama-California Exposition in 1915-16 in Balboa Park celebrated the opening of the canal, left behind the San Diego Zoo and brought the Navy to San Diego. Now park planners and supporters are revving up a yearlong centennial celebration in 2015 with the dual goal of filling up hotel rooms in the offseason and making the park a permanent, five-star attraction on the world’s travel map. “This will likely be on the scale of the 1915 and 1935 fairs, and hopefully leave as many legacies for our community or more,” says David Lang, executive director of the Balboa Park Cultural Partnership, whose 26 members will provide the “content” for locals and visitors to enjoy four years hence. Unlike the first two fairs, this effort is not aimed at park development, although some changes are in the works.

Edward Lazear: The Worst Economic Recovery in History 11.11.11 Occupy The Streets. Occupy The World. Mean-Spirited, Bad Economics By Simon Johnson The principle behind unemployment insurance is simple. Since the 1930s, employers – and in some states employees — have paid insurance premiums (in the form of payroll taxes, levied on wages) to the government. If people are laid off through no fault of their own, they can claim this insurance – just like you file a claim on your homeowner’s or renter’s policy if your home burns down. Fire insurance is mostly sold by the private sector; unemployment insurance is “sold” by the government – because the private sector never performed this role adequately. The original legislative intent, reaffirmed over the years, is clear: Help people to help themselves in the face of shocks beyond their control. But the severity and depth of our current recession raise an issue on a scale that we have literally not had to confront since the 1930s. (For details on the current benefit situation, see this information from California, as well as this on the political background.

Top 50 Wordpress Tutorials As a web developer, you can broaden your potential client base and add value for existing clients by listing 'Wordpress' as an area of expertise. Of course, unless you want to bluff your way through jobs, you'd better have the skill to back-up that claim. This collection will help. Wordpress Basics 1. Nettuts+ author Gilles Maes has written an in-depth overview of the comments.php file and how to make the most of the template. 2. iThemes has a tutorial on how to become a Wordpress developer. 3. Streamline your Wordpress set-up by installing multiple instances of Wordpress on the same database. Theme Tutorials 4. Nettuts+ author Sam Parkinson gives a thorough overview of how to make your own custom theme from scratch, complete with source code. 5. A lengthy and thorough series of tutorials covering nearly every aspect of Wordpress theme development. 6. Drew Douglass will teach us, using easy to understand screencasts, exactly how to design for WordPress. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16.

Modern American Economic History in a Few Charts Matt Stoller is a fellow at the Roosevelt Institute. You can follow him at The big economic strategy for the next term of whoever is Presidenti is essentially, “turn those machines back on”. It’s fracking to replace cheap oil and a new real estate bubble in housing. Essentially, the idea is to turn America into more and more of a resource extraction economy, or a petro-state. First, this is data showing investment in various investment sectors. American politics looks increasingly like a petro-state, and this chart shows why. And what of renewables? What you see is that renewables are increasingly rapidly, from a small base, during both the Bush and Obama administrations. Regardless, the macro trend is clear. And there we go. With Obama, the cycle is broken – real estate is just not reinflating. UPDATE: Over email, Barry Ritholtz said that my data doesn’t include enough of the tech industry.

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