Herbener on the Slow Recovery

Today's ADP National Employment Report estimates that the rate of job growth in March was the slowest in five months, causing some to speculate that "the economic recovery could be hitting a soft patch."

That makes Jeff Herbener's recent Freedom Readers lecture, " Why the Recovery Is Taking So Long and What to Do About It" as timely as today's headlines.  My friend and department chair explains that real capital accumulation is necessary for real recovery and explains what is holding that back. My oldest daughter volunteered to come with to the lecture and found it "very interesting." You can listen to his lecture by clicking here.
 

Ritenour on The What's Up Radio Program

Last Thursday I appeared on The What's Up Radio Program hosted by the lively Terry Lowry. I discussed the unemployment picture and the state of our economy. The discussion was prompted by my recent piece, "What's in a Recovery?"

You can listen to an archived recording of the program by clicking here.

America's Alleged Economic Recovery

My latest op-ed has been published on Forbes.com. In "America's Alleged Economy Recovery Is Slower than Japan's Lost Decade (the title was the publisher's idea), I attempt to explain why the vast majority of the most recent economic data does not look so good. My main argument is that much of our statistical recovery has been only apparent and made possible by government spending and monetary inflation. Such "recoveries" are always temporary at best because they are not built upon the economic bedrock of the market division of labor, savings and capital accumulation, and wise entrepreneurship.

We're Not Japan, but We Can Hope

In this short video clip from Bloomberg TV, their "single best chart" of the day shows that our so-called recovery is the worst since the 1940s and even worse than Japan's lost decade thus far.




Such is what is wrought when liquidation of malinvestment via the market process is hampered.