Tag Archives: great recession

Saez: The Top 1% Captured 121% of the Income Gains in the First Two Years of the Recovery

Posted on February 13, 2013 by Michael Morrison

The inimitable Emmanuel Saez has updated his seminal study, tracking the increasing concentration of income in America. The major takeaway from the study is the top 1% captured 121% of the income gains in the first two years of the recovery. The finding that … Continue reading →

Posted in Income Distribution, Inequality, Socio-economic Status | Tagged capital gains, great recession, income distribution, income inequality, income shares, Saez, socio-economic status, top 1% | Leave a comment

Awarding Winning Nobel Economists Warn Against Austerity

Posted on February 10, 2013 by Michael Morrison

In a letter addressed to President Obama, Speaker Boehner, Minority Leader Pelosi, Majority Leader Reid, and Minority Leader McConnell a number of Nobel winning economists had a number of things to say but their last point summarizes a point I have posted about … Continue reading →

Posted in Economy, Government | Tagged austerity, contractionary economics, deficit-reduction, economic growth, economy, expansionary austerity, fiscal constraint, fiscal policy, government, government spending, great recession, Keynes, Nobel economists, prosperity | Leave a comment

Goldman-Sachs Issues Austerity Warning

Posted on February 8, 2013 by Michael Morrison

“Sequestration, spending caps, and reduced war spending will together reduce real federal consumption and gross investment by 11% over the next two years, ” according to Alec Phillips, an economist at Goldman Sachs. “That’s a very big drop in a … Continue reading →

Posted in Economy, Government | Tagged austerity, contractionary economics, deficit-reduction, economic growth, economy, expansionary austerity, fiscal constraint, fiscal policy, government, government spending, Great Britain, great recession, Keynes, prosperity, U.S. | Leave a comment

Why is the Middle Class Angry?

Posted on February 6, 2013 by Michael Morrison

There’s little doubt that there’s a great amount of frustration and anger in our society. If I had to pick one graph that explains the anger and frustration, especially among the middle class, it would be the following graph depicting … Continue reading →

Posted in Economy, Gender, Government, Income Distribution, Inequality, Poverty, Socio-economic Status, Taxes | Tagged anger, economy, GDP per capita, government, great divergence, great recession, household income, income inequality, middle class, productivity, socio-economic status | Leave a comment

Nobel Laureate Explains Why Inequality is Stifling Economic Recovery

Posted on January 26, 2013 by Michael Morrison

Nobel Laureate, Joseph Stiglitz, explains why inequality is stunting economic recovery. “There are four major reasons inequality is squelching our recovery. The most immediate is that our middle class is too weak to support the consumer spending that has historically … Continue reading →

Posted in Economy, Inequality, Socio-economic Status, Taxes | Tagged aggregate demand, business cycle, capital gains, great recession, inequality, middle class, Stiglitz, tax rates, taxes, top 1% | Leave a comment

If the Big Banks Were Too Big to Fail in 2008, Where are They Today?

Posted on January 22, 2013 by Michael Morrison

Oh, much bigger! Source: Jon Ogden at Switch Your Bank

Posted in Economy | Tagged assets, banks, economy, great recession, risk, too big to fail | Leave a comment

Why the Unemployment Rate Is So High

Posted on January 11, 2013 by Michael Morrison

Laura D’Andrea Tyson, former chairwoman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Bill Clinton, explains in Economix why unemployment remains high: “Why is the long-term unemployment problem so much more severe in this recovery? Part of the answer lies … Continue reading →

Posted in Economy, Government | Tagged Congress, demand, economic growth, Federal Reserve, great recession, jobs, skills, unemployment | Leave a comment

Great Recession Devastated Net Worth of Most Americans

Posted on November 15, 2012 by Michael Morrison

The following graphs by University of Chicago’s Amir Sufi succinctly summarize the very adverse effects of the Great Recession on the net worth of Americans, especially for those in the 25th and 50th percentiles. American’s in the 90th net worth percentile … Continue reading →

Posted in Economy, Inequality, Poverty, Socio-economic Status, Wealth | Tagged economy, great recession, inequality, net worth, socio-economic status, wealth | Leave a comment

Wow! Housing Market Lost the Equivalent of China and United Kingdom GDPs Combined

Posted on October 3, 2012 by Michael Morrison

According to RealEstate.com: The U.S. housing market lost the equivalent of the GDP of China and the United Kingdom combined during the five-year-long real estate crash. That’s over $9.128 trillion! How much have we recovered since the bottom of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Economy | Tagged China, crash, GDP, great recession, housing, real estate, recovery, United Kingdom | Leave a comment

The Big Banks Fail Us Again: 800,000 Homeowners were Pushed toward Foreclosure Unnecessarily

Posted on September 12, 2012 by Michael Morrison

An important question: How many people have been pushed toward foreclosure unnecessarily? Based on an a study from the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, the government’s Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Ohio State University, Columbia Business School, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Economy, Government | Tagged banks, economy, foreclosure, government, great recession, HAMP, homeowners, too big to fail | Leave a comment