South By North Strategies, Ltd.

Manufacturing In The South Atlantic: August

From the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond’s latest survey of manufacturing activity in the South Atlantic (District of Columbia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia):

Manufacturing activity in the central Atlantic region pulled back in August after stalling in July, according to the Richmond Fed’s latest survey. The index of overall activity was pushed lower as growth in new orders and shipments declined further into negative territory. Employment remained in positive territory but grew at a pace below July’s rate. Other indicators also suggested weakening activity. District contacts indicated that backlogs and capacity utilization continued to contract, while delivery times turned negative. Moreover, manufacturers reported that inventory building remained on pace with July.

Around The Dial – August 24, 2011

Economic policy reports, blog postings, and media stories of interest:

• Off the Charts notes that the top 1% had $1.7 trillion in income in 2008.
• Marshall Auerback asks if “we are approaching the endgame for the Euro.”
• The Charlotte Observer reports on unemployment among African Americans.
• Bruce Bartlett thinks top tax brackets must rise.
• Henry Blodget argues that BofA needs more capital.
• Off the Charts runs down facts on the TANF program.

Midweek Humor: Class Warfare Edition

Jon Stewart of The Daily Show turns arguments about “class warfare” on their head.

A Policy Wasteland?

Over at Crooked Timber, Australian economist John Quiggin describes the limited opportunities for intellectual policy debate in the United States. (Incidentally, Quiggin’s recent book, Zombie Economics, is a fun and thought-provoking read.)

… this reflects the fact, in the current US scene, the groups with whom productive discussion is possible are quite limited. The right lives in a parallel universe and the Very Serious centre defines itself by the presumption that both right and left are, and always must be, equally wrong (Cass Sunstein bases his entire worldview on this presumption) . There is no point in debating specific issues with these groups except to the extent that it may be possible to convince individual rightists and centrists to stop being rightists and centrists. That leaves someone like me talking to neoliberals (in the US sense) on my right and to those to my left who are interested in positive discussions of policy and political strategy (a subset of a group that is not all that large in the first place).

Around The Dial – August 23, 2011

Economic policy reports, blog postings, and media stories of interest:

• Matt Taibbi reports on claims that the SEC is covering up for Wall St.
• Policy Shop explains the logic of financial transaction taxes.
• The New York Times wants to save U.S. savings bonds.
• Joel Berg notes “welfare reform’s forgotten goals.”
• Robert Skidelsky describes “the Keynes-Hayek rematch.”
• Econbrower points to new research about tax expenditures.