Much to commentators’ surprise, the United States Treasury bond market has been strong over the last few weeks, with the 10 year bond’s yield declining to 3.94 percent Thursday and mortgage originations for home purchase setting a new weekly record Wednesday. Happy Days, it is generally felt, are Here Again. High liquidity, like alcohol, generally […]

According to the Census Bureau, the median earnings of U.S. workers of 25 and over in 2001 was 6.78 percent above its level in 1973. However, according to the International Labor Organization, the average U.S. employee worked 1,978 hours in 2000, compared with 1,883 in 1980. In other words, remuneration per hour was pretty well […]

The administration Wednesday unveiled a proposal that would allow illegal immigrants to legalize themselves on a temporary basis, provided they could get a job. George W. Bush’s presentation of the proposal was filled with noble liberal rhetoric; it ignored the real situation in the murky world of the marginally employed.

The $500 billion per annum U.S. balance of payments deficit cannot be financed indefinitely by persuading foreigners that Wall Street is moving forever upward, nor by arm-twisting Asian central banks into buying Treasury bonds and bills. To rebalance it, the dollar will have to drop and U.S. exports will have to increase to meet imports. […]