Show #028 Midterm Electionpalooza: Show Notes

This month, I reviewed the economic planks of the platforms of candidates for Governor, Comptroller and US Representative for the 19th District of New York and discussing the impacts of minimum wage increases with Jeannette Wicks-Lim of the Political Economy research Institute of Amherst MA. But first, as always, the news.

More interesting discussions of Ginsberg's

This past Wednesday, October 15, the Columbia County Industrial Development Agency (IDA) held a meeting at which the Payment in Lieu of Taxes arrangement for the facility being proposed by Ginsberg's in Ghent and Claverack was to be discussed. As predicted, it was well attended. A large crowd showed up, many of whom were Ginsberg's employees or people who work with Ginsberg's. Ken Flood in his role as IDA Executive Director, asserted that the project would create $10 in benefits for the county for each dollar of incentives. The main points made by opponents of the PILOT for this project is that it wasn't at all clear that Ginsberg's needed it. David Ginsberg cited an example of a competitor receiving $18.5 million in tax breaks to build a comparable facility. Residents argued that the deal would pace a burden on school and property tax payers. The latter is a little fuzzy, since there's no one paying taxes on the property now. The proposed deal means that that would continue for the first six years, with payments kicking in afterwards. More will be revealed, I guess. No word yet when a final decision will be made.

Official unemployment rate falls to 5.9%, unofficial rate is still above 11%

This Wonkblog post could have been titled "Americans think the Labor Department is tracking the wrong number." The blog discusses a poll asking respondents what they thought the unemployment rate was, the results of which show that 45% of those polled thought the unemployment rate was higher than the official rate, which was reported to decline to 5.9% in September. While the post's author speculates that the discrepancy might be due to personal experiences or that they missed the news it may be that the public is a better guide to some things than official statistics, at least the 'headline' unemployment rate. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does keep track of better measures, of course. In its release, you can find out that, although the number of unemployed persons (those looking not employed, but who looked for work in the last four weeks) fell to 9.3 million, the number of people working less than they want to for economic reasons (involuntary part-time workers) was 7.1 million and those who were marginally attached (who want to and are able to work, had looked for work in the last 12 months but not in the prior four weeks) numbered 2.2 million. The number of people in the latter two categories had not fallen over the last year. The math wizzes among you may have noticed that the involuntary part-time and marginally attached add up to 9.3 million, coincidentally the same as the number of officially unemployed. If you add those people to the unemployed (and the labor force), the unemployment rate you get (which the BLS calls U-6) is 11.1%. So maybe those people who think the unemployment rate is twice as high as the official rate know something about the economy that Washington Post bloggers don't.

Show Notes: Show #027 Is it warm in here, or is it me?

Is it hot in here, or is it me?

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Show #027 Is it hot in here, or is it me? Tomorrow morning at 10!

Join me for local News, the Paul Ryan budget, and reactions to the Environmental Protection Agency's proposed rules for reducing carbon emissions! Listen at 90.7 FM in Greene and Columbia counties or on line at wgxc.org. I will talk at you then!

Show #026 Our Crumbling Infrastructure - Show Notes

Show #026 Our Crumbling Infrastructure

1. Introduction

   Hello and welcome to Your Friendly Neighborhood Economist Show #026 "Our Crumbling Infrastructure" on August 12, 2014! I am Tom Masterson, Your Friendly neighborhood Economist and in today's show I will indeed talk about our crumbling infrastructure, what is not being done about it and how it relates to the Federal Budget. Then I will look at the state of global warming, especially the new regulations issued by the Environmental Protection Agency. Finally, I have an interview with Lee Badgett, professor of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Director of the Center for Public Policy and Administration at UMass Amherst and Senior Scholar at the Williams Institute of UCLA. I'll have my usual unpredictable mix of music and exciting sound effects as well, but first, as always, some local economics news. Hang on to your hats, folks, Your Friendly Neighborhood Economist is IN. 

Tune in tomorrow

Tomorrow's show, #026 Our Crumbling Infrastructure, includes the usual bag of local, state and national news. I will discuss of the state of our infrastructure and what's not being done about it. Also, why. And I'll begin to dig into the carbon regulations being put forth by the Environmental Protection Agency. All this and an interview with Lee Badgett, Professor of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, director of the Center for Public Policy and Administration, and Senior Scholar at the Williams Institute at UCLA. You can hear it on WGXC 90.7 FM Acra, Catskill, Hudson or online. Show notes and link to the archived show will follow. Real soon.