dagblog - Comments for "Brad Delong's tour of the horizon."

Could be. My first reaction

Flavius — Tue, 24 May 2011 03:56:10 +0000

In reply to It may just be that tis is

Could be.

My first reaction is that it's simply an untrue statistic which will be revised in time. But if true that could be an explanation.

My guess is that it's too soon for these employee give ups to have had such a substantial effect.. First the companies had to obtain them.,then negotiate contracts based upon the resulting lower prices,then ship..

Maybe that could be short cut in the case of items sold from inventory rather than made to order. For pricing, it would be irrelevant if the inventory had been produced at higher historic costs. The US supplier would price based on replacement costs so to that extent these lower compensation rates could have the quick impact you suggest.. .

It may just be that tis is

we are stardust — Tue, 24 May 2011 02:05:54 +0000

In reply to Saw it , sure is counter

It may just be that tis is the key, no? "...and many new manufacturing jobs don’t offer good pay or benefits", as in the unions were pretty much forced to concede so far on pay-tiers, pensions, etc.

Saw it , sure is counter

Flavius — Mon, 23 May 2011 20:06:19 +0000

In reply to Did you see this piece from

Saw it , sure is counter intuitive.

Did you see this piece from

artappraiser — Mon, 23 May 2011 18:21:53 +0000

In reply to Brad Delong's tour of the horizon.

Did you see this piece from Krugman last week? This news in it really surprised me:.

Making Things in America
By Paul Krugman, New York Times, May 19/20, 2011
...Crucially, the manufacturing trade deficit seems to be coming down. At this point, it’s only about half as large as a share of G.D.P. as it was at the peak of the housing bubble, and further improvements are in the pipeline. The Boston Consulting Group, which is now predicting a U.S. “manufacturing renaissance,” points to major U.S. firms like Caterpillar that once shifted production abroad but are now moving it back. At the same time, companies from other countries, especially European firms, are moving production to America.

And one potential disaster has been avoided: the U.S. auto industry, which many people were writing off just two years ago, has weathered the storm. In particular, General Motors has now had five consecutive profitable quarters.

America’s industrial heartland is now leading the economic recovery. In August 2009, Michigan had an unemployment rate of 14.1 percent, the highest in the nation. Today, that rate is down to 10.3 percent, still above the national average, but nonetheless a huge improvement.

I don’t want to suggest that everything is wonderful about U.S. manufacturing. So far, the job gains are modest, and many new manufacturing jobs don’t offer good pay or benefits. The manufacturing revival isn’t going to make health reform unnecessary or obviate the need for a strong social safety net.

Still, better to have those jobs than none at all. Which brings me to those right-wing critics....

He added wonk details and a graph here on his blog.

No, yours is correct and

artappraiser — Mon, 23 May 2011 17:49:36 +0000

In reply to Bad link; see if this one

No, yours is correct and works. DeLong's server seems slow, I had to refresh to get it to load.

Flavius somehow cut off the end of the url when he copied and pasted it; yours is the full one.

Chart at the top

The Economic Outlook as of May 2011

Bad link; see if this one

we are stardust — Mon, 23 May 2011 14:29:35 +0000

In reply to Brad Delong's tour of the horizon.

Bad link; see if this one works.

update: nope.