Submitted by Businomics Blog
So employment was down again, for the third month:

Although the unemployment rate is rising, it’s still below the long-run average.  However, unemployment tends to be a lagging indicator; that is, it will hit bottom after the overall economy (measured by production and employment) hits bottom.  So we almost certainly have worse news […]

continue reading.....

Submitted by Businomics Blog
Economic contingency planning is a hot topic these days.  I am now offering for sale an audio CD–play it in your car–or an MP3 download with an explanation of how business should plan for economic changes.  The CD/MP3 includes a bonus interview with Mark Thoma of Economist’s View Blog talking about what […]

continue reading.....

Submitted by CARPE DIEM
Quotes of the Day:

1. With the command-and-control propensity of contemporary liberalism, Clinton predictably advocates a policy that has a record, running from Roman times to the present, that is unblemished by success. It is the policy of price controls: Her proposed five-year freeze on interest rates would be a control on the […]

continue reading.....

Submitted by CARPE DIEM
ZIMBABWE–With inflation estimated at 200,000% - easily the highest in the world - Zimbabwe’s currency is barely worth the paper it’s printed on (see chart above). (The largest Zimbabwean note, 10 million dollars, can’t buy more than a couple of sodas.) Foreign currency runs this economy now, mainly the U.S. dollar and […]

continue reading.....

Submitted by CARPE DIEM

LA TIMES–Not long ago, Stolichnaya was the only Russian vodka Americans seemed to know about. But if you look around today, you can find up to 35 brands — and the pace of new arrivals is picking up. This could keep going for a while, because there are about 300 vodka distilleries […]

continue reading.....

Submitted by CARPE DIEM
Professors Should Embrace Wikipedia–If the Web is the greatest information delivery device ever, and Wikipedia is the largest coherent store of information and ideas, then we as teachers and scholars should have been on this train years ago for the benefit of our students, our professions, and that mystical pool of human […]

continue reading.....

Submitted by CARPE DIEM

NY TIMES: AMHERST, MASS. — Once they discover that she is Dr. Kate, the supplicants line up to approach at dinner parties and ballet recitals. Surely, they suggest to Dr. Katherine J. Atkinson, a family physician here, she might find a way to move them up her lengthy waiting list for new […]

continue reading.....

Submitted by CARPE DIEM
America’s political leaders are so fixated on illegal immigration they’ve barely noticed that the U.S. is losing the race for the best high-tech minds. This country won’t keep its edge in the global economy until legislators stop behaving like border sentries and start acting like international recruiters – a switch virtually every […]

continue reading.....

Submitted by CARPE DIEM
The chart above shows monthly unemployment rates, by educational attainment, from 2000 to March 2008, using data from the BLS, obtained via Economagic. The data show that almost all of the .50% increase in the overall unemployment rate over the last 9 months from 4.6% in June 2007 to 5.1% in March […]

continue reading.....