Radio commentary, January 29, 2009

How about that for bipartisanship? All that seduction from our new president, sweetened with tax cuts and lubricated with cocktails at the White House, and still the stimulus package didn’t get a single Republican vote in the House. They won’t play bipartisan. They’re stubborn as hell and stick to their cretinous principles. You’ve got to respect them for that. It may be because they have some principles, as nutty as they can be. Meanwhile, the infrastructure component of the stimulus bill has shrunk, and is really not up to the task. According… Read More

Radio commentary, January 22, 2009

In economic news, more bad stuff. On Thursday morning, we learned that housing starts fell by over 15% in December (and these numbers are seasonally adjusted, so don’t blame it on snow) to an all-time low. An all-time low sounds bad enough, but when you reflect that this is a history that goes back almost 50 years, to a time when the U.S. population was more than 40% lower than it is now, setting a fresh low is really an achievement. In fact, in per capita terms, the level of housing starts in… Read More

Interview on MinnPost

Steve Perry interviews Doug Henwood on the current mess: No bottom in sight yet

Radio commentary, January 15, 2009

Audio: January 15, 2009 Re: the economic news, not only does the news remain bad, I’m tempted to say that it will continue to get worse. Some listeners have heard me say this already, but the home audience on WBAI hasn’t yet. The U.S. employment report for December was a horror. Total employment fell by 524,000, with almost every sector showing losses. Almost half the loss came in goods production, mainly construction and manufacturing. But it wasn’t just the goods sector either. Private services got hammered too. The losses in services are among… Read More

Radio commentary, January 10, 2009

The Prop 8 vote: not a black thing. Divining the economic future from the record of past banking crises: it’s ugly. Why is Obama conceding on tax cuts? December employment: a horror.

Radio commentary, January 1, 2009

Turn of the year observations. Eras end and begin. Do permanent crises exist?

Radio commentary, December 20, 2008

Fed cuts to 0%, tries kitchen sink. The Obama stimulus plan.

Radio commentary, December 11, 2008

How long a recession? Summers talks nonsense. A rebirth of worker militance?

Radio commentary, December 6, 2008

More of the same: economic weakening, and rewarding hacks. The November employment report was a stinker.

Radio commentary, November 27, 2008

No recovery til 2010? Obama rewards failure. Daewoo gets some free land.

Radio commentary, November 20, 2008

More bad news – but some cultural comfort?

Radio commentary, November 13, 2008

Even more signs of economic weakening; inspiring appointments by Mr Changiness, eh?

Radio commentary, November 6, 2008

Economy takes turn for worse; making excuses for the president-elect.

Radio commentary, October 30, 2008

Stinky economy, flawed bailout.