Free Republic

Here's the question of the day: Did president Obama tax the US into recession? Trim Tab's Charles Biderman makes that exact claim in U.S. Entered Recession in January Yet Fed Fix Keeps Stocks Pumped. Welcome to the new recession. TrimTabs tracking of real-time wages and salaries shows that the United States has entered into a recession this year. I had been predicting a slowdown after the big bump in December incomes due to the hike in taxes. It has taken a while for us to get a handle on income this year given all the changes in tax rates. But...

On September 29, with thanks Google Translate and some links in Chinese sent by a reader, I reported China Loan Shark Market Crashes; Scores of Chinese Business Owners Unable to Pay Black Market Loans Commit Suicide or Disappear That story has now gone mainstream. the New York Times reports As China’s Economy Cools, Loan Sharks Come Knocking The 300 employees of Aomi Fluid Equipment here were delighted recently when the owner offered an all-expenses-paid, two-day trip to a mountain resort three hours away. The owner, Sun Fucai — or Boss Sun, as he’s known — was so insistent that his...

Time For Mankiw To Resign On Saturday I checked my watch to verify the date. A quick check showed it was April 18. Just to be sure I asked my wife Joanne and she assured me it was the 18th. Likewise my computer said it was the 18th. For a brief moment, I thought we had flashed back in time and it was April 1. April Fool's day was the only rational explanation I could come up with for a column in the New York Times by Gregory Mankiw, professor of economics at Harvard.