Submitted by CARPE DIEM
Math 55 is advertised in the Harvard catalog as “prob­ably the most difficult undergraduate math class in the country.” Math 55 does not look like America. Each year as many as 50 students sign up, but at least half drop out within a few weeks. As a former student told The Crimson […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM

The BLS reported today that productivity in the nonfarm business sector increased by 1.9% in the fourth quarter of 2007 (see chart above), and was up by 2.9% compared to QIV of 2006. Productivity increased by 6.3% in the third quarter of 2007.
From the Wall Street Journal:
On balance, the data should […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM

From today’s IBD:
Democrats seem unable to stop themselves from promoting higher taxes for the wealthy and lower taxes for the poor. But if the public knew the facts, their rhetoric would have no resonance.
As the chart above shows (click to enlarge), the effective tax rate for middle-class Americans has fallen since the […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM
 
Mumbai, India — India’s lucrative outsourcing sector is not limited to back office jobs. It is now emerging as a major supplier of “back bedroom jobs” as an infant outsourcing hub as well.
Reproduction is the newest addition to the Asian tiger’s outsourcing industry. Couples from the United States and Europe are asking […]

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Submitted by Econbrowser
Not a good start to the week week for those holding on to hopes that the U.S. will avoid a recession.

Start with autos. Every sales category was down– imports or domestic, cars or light trucks– relative to February 2007. But the sharpest drops were seen by domestic light trucks, a category that includes […]

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Submitted by Businomics Blog
The McKinsey Quarterly has an interesting article about the trends that will continue after the current financial market turbulence calms down.  (free, but registration required)  Here are their key trends:

the continued growth and deepening of global capital markets as investors pour more money into equities, debt securities, bank deposits, and other assets […]

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Submitted by A Dash of Insight
Sometimes a concept is so simple and compelling that one would expect it to be universally embraced.  When important government agencies demonstrate a commitment to addressing a problem, investors and traders alike would be wise to take notice.
Instead, stocks have declined dramatically, actually beginning at the time the Fed engaged […]

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