Drum writes:

[I]f free traders really want to keep protectionist sentiment tamped down, they'd be well advised to start supporting domestic policies that create jobs, bring down unemployment, and reduce the kind of financial fear that drives protectonist sentiment in the first place.

Let me see - free trader? Check. Supported domestic policies to bring down unemployment? Check. I got this covered since, oh September 2008. President Obama? Not so much. Though he was a "fair trader" for a couple of weeks in Ohio. Uh oh. No pom poms.

Speaking for me only

Brad DeLong is optimistic for where I sit:

For 2 1/4 years now I have been saying that there is no chance of a repeat of the Great Depression or anything like it--that we know what to do and how to do it and will do it if things turn south. I don't think I can say that anymore. In my estimation the chances of another big downward shock to the U.S. economy--a shock that would carry us from the 1/3-of-a-Great-Depression we have now to 2/3 or more--are about 5%. And it now looks very much as if if such a shock hits the U.S. government will be unable to do a d----- thing about it.

(Emphasis supplied.) 5%? That's all? That is clearly unduly optimistic. Of course, we probably have to define our terms. If GDP is your bible, then the question is how do you describe a double dip recession with the second dip lasting 18 months or so? Cuz there clearly is more than a 5% chance of that right now. And for the more populist among us, the unemployment rate is certainly getting us to 2/3 of a Great Depression. In a way, the economic situation really illustrates the great disconnect between elites and the general population.

Speaking for me only

The country needs and, unless I mistake its temper, the country demands bold, persistent experimentation. It is common sense to take a method and try it: If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something. -- FDR

Paul Krugman:

So it’s time to try something different. [. . .] The point is that we need to start doing something more than, and different from, what we’re already doing. And the experience of other countries suggests that it’s time for a policy that explicitly and directly targets job creation.

The fierce urgency of now.

Speaking for me only

NYtimes:

The American economy lost 263,000 jobs in September — far more than expected — and the unemployment rate rose to 9.8 percent, the government reported on Friday, dimming prospects of any meaningful job growth by the end of the year. [. . .] “It’s a very fragile and tentative recovery,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Economy.com. “Policymakers need to do more.”

(Emphasis supplied) A little late for that isn't it? Krugman wrote:

[T]he complacency now setting in over the state of the economy is both foolish and dangerous. [. . .] [W]hile not having another depression is a good thing, all indications are that unless the government does much more than is currently planned to help the economy recover, the job market [. . .] will remain terrible for years to come.

(Emphasis supplied.) There's a winning political slogan - "terrible for years to come." But the stimulus ship has sailed. Obama blew it.

Speaking for me only

Given that Monday is Labor Day, I thought I'd take a look at my last Social Security/Medicare statment to see how much I've paid in taxes for both over my working life. The statement says I began paying into to Social Secuirty in 1965 (a part time job during high school) and continued up through the present. Given what I've paid in, and that I won't retire until 65 at the earliest, there's no way I'll get all that money back -- I won't live that long.I wonder how many people, like me, won't get their money back, either because they die, or they end up with reduced benfits due to the meme the Government is pushing that in 2014, SS will begin paying out more than it takes in, and by 2041 will not have enough to cover everyone? Why doesn't the excess paid in go back to our heirs if we die early?

I've also paid a bundle into Medicare, which I'm years away from collecting on. If I die, Medicare too keeps the money it collected from me. Do they use it to pay medical care for someone else?

[More..]

Recognizing that few Americans have adequate savings for retirement, President Obama today announced four plans that do not require Congressional approval.

“The fact is, even before this recession hit, the savings rate was essentially zero, while borrowing had risen and credit card debt had increased,” Mr. Obama said in his weekly radio address. “Half of America’s work force doesn’t have access to a retirement plan at work. And fewer than 10 percent of those without workplace retirement plans have one of their own.”

Will any of the plans help you? If not, what would you have recommended instead? Here is the transcript of his weekly address and here is the factsheet on the four plans.

NYTimes:

The unemployment rate, which dipped in July as Americans left the work force and stopped looking for jobs, resumed its climb last month, rising to 9.7 percent from 9.4 percent, the Labor Department reported on Friday in its monthly snapshot of the job market.

. . . “High unemployment rates are going to be with us for quite a while,” Michael Feroli, an economist at JPMorgan Chase, said. “It’s going to be a long, long time before we see 6 percent or 7 percent unemployment.”

How's that recovery working out for you? Aren't you glad President Snowe replaced 80 billion dollars of stimulus spending with tax cuts?

Speaking for me only

This is quite good news:

The American economy lost 247,000 jobs in July, and in a reversal, the unemployment rate fell slightly, to 9.4 percent, the government reported Friday. Although businesses are expected to keep cutting jobs through the rest of the year, the Labor Department’s latest figures offered some faint signs that the sinking job market was approaching bottom.

There was improvement in the broader measure of unemployment (U6) as well, with that rate dropping from 16.5% to 16.3%. If employment can bounce back quickly, then the recession may indeed not be as bad as many, including me, feared. Time will tell.

Speaking for me only

Atrios:

YAAAY!

Gross domestic product, the broadest measure of economic activity, fell at a 1 percent annual rate in the April through June quarter, the Commerce Department said.

Oh, wait...

That compares with a 6.4 percent pace of decline in the first quarter, a revision from an earlier estimate of a 5.5 percent rate of decline.

Don't worry. Be Happy.

Speaking for me only

Amazon is acquiring Zappos, the best online shoe retailer ever (in my opinion) for $800 million in stock.

Zappos, a ten-year-old private company that has won fans with perks like free shipping and personalized service, is the largest player in that market....The companies said the Zappos management team would remain intact, and that it would continue to operate as an independent division of Amazon from its offices outside Las Vegas. Zappos, whose backers include Sequoia Capital, also said it planned to maintain its shipping facility in Louisville, Ky.

I hope they run it the same. Amazon is stingy with affiliate commissions while Zappo's pays one of the best rates around. If that changes, I'll be very disappointed.

Ian Milheiser has the details about the support given by GOP Senators Sessions, Hatch and McCain to the extreme Right Wing group Committee for Justice, which is running an ad accusing Puerto Rican judges Jose Cabranes and Sonia Sotomayor of cavorting with terrorists:

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), a member of the Judiciary Committee, was a featured guest at a Georgetown fundraiser for the Committee for Justice in 2003. According to the New York Times, the event raised at least $50,000 for the right-wing group that is responsible for the recent Sotomayor slime piece. . . . The right-wing group also has other ties to GOP Senators. CFJ’s Chairman of the Board worked on John McCain’s presidential campaign as a “Director of Conservative Outreach.” . . . Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) defended CFJ and its [2003 ad attacking Senator Leahy as "anti-Catholic" (ironically, Leahy is Catholic)] on the Senate floor:

There has been an awful lot of railing about this ad by the Committee for Justice. . . . I say it is legitimate commentary.

Are Sessions, Hatch, and their conservative colleagues still willing to defend the Committee for Justice and argue that it is “legitimate commentary” to imply Sotomayor [and Cabranes] [are] terrorist[s]?

Speaking for me only

Joe Biden told an interviewer that the Obama administration "misread how bad the economy was." The obvious question: How is that possible? The crappy state of the economy was clear to the rest of the (non-Republican) country, as was the need for an aggressive stimulus package. Only now is the administration realizing that the economy is really really bad?