Recently in Economy Category

The headline at National Review Online reads "Federal Workers Overcompensated." It refers to this study just released by the Congressional Budget Office comparing wages and benefits of federal government employees versus their counterparts in the private sector, illustrated by this chart: As you can see, the difference in wages isn't that much. The higher wages-21% more--for those with a high school education or less are almost exactly offset by the lower wages-23% less--for those with...

It's been a long time. I want to introduce myself. My name is Scott Barzilla and I am unemployed. Back in November, things were picking up. I had what seemed like a firm offer from an insurance company and I got a holiday job at Barnes and Noble. That job went away when the holidays ended and the insurance company is still doing background checks. Meanwhile, I've shelled out nearing 500 dollars getting certified. It's...

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/31/us-net-investment-income/...

My time at Barnes and Noble is coming to an end tomorrow. The funny thing is that the people there are split into three categories. There are the managers. They may have started in another field, but they are making a go of it there. They are in it for the long haul and probably making some decent money. There is a sizeable group of us that were downsized from our career of choice and...

I noticed when I looked at the dashboard that I had not written in a month. Well, time flies for the unemployed and the underemployed. The good news is that I found a job that helps our family get through the holidays. The bad news is that it really cuts into the writing time. When I add up the work schedule, studying time for insurance tests, and baseball statistics work it adds up to little...

This just makes my ass twitch. Candy Crowley on CNN asking AARP's David Certner "What will seniors give up to help the country that's in a big problem at this point?" and quoting from a Washington Post editorial which said:"The crunch time for the congressional supercommittee has arrived, and with it comes a new round of self-centered, shortsighted intransigence on the part of AARP and its fellow don't-touch-my-benefits purists."Crowley then commented:"I think that grasps at...

Bear with me if I get a little like a dog chewing on a bone about this subject, but if I had a craw one of the things that would stick in it would be the 'CRA led to the mortgage meltdown' nonsense that was the subject of one of last week's posts. Although this theory has been disproved eight ways to Sunday, there are still a few who hang on to it. One of...

Urban legends that just won't die:SasquatchElvis is alive and working at Burger King in Michigan.Walt Disney's body is cryogenically frozen. The Proctor and Gamble logo is satanic.The moon landing was faked.The Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) is responsible for the mortgage meltdown.New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg exhumed the last one again yesterday (as did a certain blogger at the Chronicle). Fannie and Freddie, aided and abetted by the evil ACORN,  "forced" banks to give loans to...

Above is a picture of former Marine Scott Olsen after he was seriously wounded by Oakland police yesterday as they attempted to break-up the Occupy Oakland effort.Mr. Olsen was hit in the head with a projectile of some kind.The folks who helped bring about this recession with economic crimes and fraud don't go to jail, but you see above what can happen when you advocate for economic fairness.YouTube has a video up that strongly suggests police...

A few weeks ago, I attended a job fair that was sponsored by the Houston Chronicle. The funny thing was that it was broken into three sections: nursing, engineering, and general. They wouldn't even allow me into the nursing or engineering section even though those companies were also hiring people that weren't nurses or engineers. Heck, I even tried to sneak into them to give them my resume and I was rebuffed.That being said, I...