When will Greece scurry out of the Eurozone?  Greece is bankrupt and can’t print its own money,  Only the European Central Bank can, and so far the ECB is not held hostage by Greek protestors.  With the jobless rate hurdling beyond 20%, amid shuttered doors and smashed storefront windows, there’s simply no way for a new coalition government to raise more tax revenue, despite the Eurozone dangling a $170 billion bailout reward.

My best guess:  Greece shuffles away on a … Continue Reading →

Here’s the video of my commentary on PBS on college costs, with the transcipt below.  College costs are soaring because admin costs are soaring and colleges are engaging in an arms race to show off who’s got the slickest fitness center and dormitory.  

And while the number of undergraduate slots is fixed, the number of students applying is rising.  That shortage drives prices higher, and federal aid policies add a turbo-booster to that trajectory.  Better to use government funds to help colleges expand and provide more room to accept more students.  (As … Continue Reading →

I recently appeared on Bill Maher’s HBO Show, which feels great — if  you look like Johnny Depp or Che Guevara.   The studio audience finds even Bill Maher too conservative!   Here’s a link to part of the show.

Some inside dope:  the show is broadcast in the same studio as The Price is Right, and so the  the game show logo shows up on every backstage door.  It would be fascinating to do a surprise switch.  Bill would host his edgy show before … Continue Reading →

The Go-Nowhere Generation essay that I wrote with my daughter Victoria in the New York Times last month sparked provocative commentary and was the most emailed article of that weekend.  It also sparked followup research.  The proportion of 19 year olds and younger with drivers licenses plummeted 28% between 1998 and 2008.  The AP, New York Times, Forbes and others have since featured articles on how how young people have lost their wanderlust.  Where’d it go?  It’s been replaced with … Continue Reading →

Marketplace, the award-winning NPR program, just aired my commentary on Generation “Y Bother.” 

I am worried that an aversion to risk has crept into the psyches of young people. Perhaps it’s from overprotective parents who drive their Little Leaguers to first base in the minivan. Or maybe it’s a lingering cloud of hopelessness despite the “hope and change” bumper stickers. But it’s not healthy.

And governments make matters worse by setting up roadblocks. Almost one in four jobs … Continue Reading →

China’s economy has grown soggy – like the last dim sum left on Sunday’s rolling cart. I’ve been warning for the past year that the Chinese economy has fallen off its stratospheric trajectory, and now Premier Wen has scratched out his old optimistic GDP forecasts (Yes, I know some people have been screaming “Bubble!” since 1990, but that was about 20 years too early.  Back in 2000 my book Market Shock was bullish on China and very sour on the Eurozone).… Continue Reading →

Sunday’s New York Times features an article I jointly wrote with my daughter Victoria, a student at Cambridge University, who’s working on her own book on the teenage brain.  Simply put, 20-somethings just won’t move in order to take a job.  This is the Occupy movement we should be worried about. 

Last month I was addressing an electric utility convention, when a women engineer from Florida asked what her stay-at-home 20-something college grad should do.  He can’t find work in … Continue Reading →

President Obama doesn’t seem to care much for dividends.  In his 2010 financial disclosure form, he and the First Lady showed $500,000 in a checking account, but only about 10% of their multi-million dollar wealth in equities.   Now the President unveils a budget that would punish investors in dividend-paying stocks, jacking up the top dividend tax rate from 15%  to 43.4%.  How do you get 43.4?  The top rate jumps to 39.6%, plus a 3.8% nonwage income tax, courtesy of Obamacare. 

The … Continue Reading →

With the jobless rate floating above 8%, the American people are ready to hand President Obama a pink slip. Listen to my commentary on National Public Radio or read the transcript below:

Long before Donald Trump’s “Apprentice,” Billy Crystal starred in the movie “Mr. Saturday Night.” Crystal plays a crotchety TV host who chews out his staff: “You’re fired! You’re fired!” One guys squeaks, “I don’t work here.” Crystal says, “You’re hired. Now you’re fired! Get outta here!”

Americans aren’t … Continue Reading →

With all the chatter about 1% vs. 99% from the Occupy folks, it’s no surprise Leonardo DiCaprio just started filming a remake of The Great Gatsby.  But I think we can learn much more from Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris, which features F. Scott Fitzgerald but ultimately embraces our modern times.  Below is my take, which just shows what happens when an economist bumps into the fiction shelf at the book store:

Some Occupy protestors wave posters, whiskey … Continue Reading →