Economics and Government

Fed Sticks to Bond-Buying Policy

2010-12-14T21:58:00.000-07:00

This article is about the Fed and how they are sticking to buying $600 million in US Treasury Bonds and keeping the interest rates near zero. Even though consumer spending for Christmas has raised significantly this year, unemployment continues to remain around 10%. In addition, Congress is expected to approve a tax cut package for next year. This has not changed the Fed's mind about their

Unemployment Checks Create Jobs? YEAH RIGHT

2010-12-01T15:15:00.001-07:00

Back in June 2010 Nancy Pelosi made a statement that unemployment benefits are the fastest way to create jobs. This statement was made in support of extending the amount of time someone can receive unemployment benefits. The unemployment benefits were extended and now in December we have an even higher unemployment rate then we did back in June and now the extended benefits are expiring again. So

Tax Cuts to expire

2010-11-30T22:14:00.004-07:00

I recently read an article on USnews.com entitled "Why Tax Hikes for the Wealthy are Inevitable" regarding the upcoming expiration of the Bush tax cuts that will soon end for the top income earners. While the articles poses several interesting reasons regarding the expiration of the tax cuts and the effects it will have on the top income earners, it seems as though a greater percentage of the

No Increase in Unemployment Benefits

2010-11-30T19:44:00.003-07:00

Mercury News reports that the US Senate failed to pass an extension of unemployment benefits. They explain that this means that 2 million unemployed people in the US will face losing their benefits. They claim that this will have longterm repercussions for the nation and its economic recovery that is already slow coming. The article claims that this will stunt the already slow economic recovery,

Jobless aid loss could choke economic growth

2010-11-30T18:39:00.000-07:00

According to an Article by William Evans entitled “BP Scores Stimulus Cash”, the oil company has received 308 million dollars of federal grants over years for a “cutting edge” power plant to be constructed on farmland near Tupman California. The goal of the plant is to foster clean coal technology in the hope to capture carbon dioxide emissions in the fight against global

Oil Spills & Market Failure

2010-09-29T11:42:00.002-06:00

You might think that because pollution is the classic example of an externality that the recent oil spill from the BP drilling facility was a negative externality. However, I find that there are 2 fundamental reasons to conclude that the BP oil spill was not a source of market failure.First, recall that in class we discussed a silly illustration of an accident caused by me driving too fast.

Subsidizing Renewable Energy

2010-09-28T20:22:00.003-06:00

The discussion over renewable energy resources has been at the forefront of our political discourse for what seems like a lifetime now. Specifically, since the Carter Administration's brush with catastrophe in the form of gasoline rationing in the 70's, there has been a concern with the fossil fuel-based necessity to modern life. But how do issues surrounding the many concerns over energy sources

Efficiency and Liberty as Value Judgements

2010-09-28T13:33:00.002-06:00

According to Lord Acton “Liberty is the highest political end of man” if it is true that liberty is a constant goal of all political action then perhaps liberty and not efficiency should be the guiding principle of public finance. After all, economics and politics are intertwined to the point where for years people studied political economy rather than economics. It is impossible to value equally

Break rooms

2010-09-28T11:55:00.001-06:00

I would like to examine what exactly happens in the employee break rooms? In dealing with the employee break rooms you are faced with externality issues, marginal cost, total cost. Marginal cost is the polluter of the break rooms. External cost will continue to increase due to the amount of pollution in the break room. As the employees use the break rooms there will be one person cleaning will

New Bill, Where is the Market failure?

2010-09-27T11:53:00.000-06:00

An article titled “Democrats’ tax bill targets outsourced jobs,” discusses tax cuts and removing some taxes on businesses that remove jobs from the United States. According to the article, the bill would cut “favorable tax rates” for businesses that outsource jobs to other countries and give tax incentives to companies that create jobs for a U.S. employee that is replacing a foreign worker in

The Market Failure of Offshore Drilling (a.k.a. the BP Oil Spill)

2010-09-26T13:27:00.002-06:00