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These are the personal views of Peter Morici, a professor at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business and former chief economist at the U.S. International Trade Commission:

A Republican article of faith is that high unemployment should put Governor Mitt Romney in the White House. With their candidate fading in the polls as the debates approach, party operatives focus on tactical corrections, but fail to grasp that the basic GOP message–lower taxes, deregulation and free trade–is unappealing to voters scarred by the Great Recession and corporate abuses.

Mr. Romney would lower personal and corporate income tax rates, financed by eliminating deductions, credits and loopholes totaling nearly $500 billion. Almost certainly, that nixes cherished middle-class benefits like the mortgage interest deduction. By shifting around the tax burden rather than reducing it, he gives President Barack Obama the opening to charge that he would raise taxes on many middle class families.

Streamlining regulation to open up petroleum development in the Gulf, off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and in Alaska could cut oil imports in half and create 2.5 million jobs–without adding to CO2 emissions or environmental risks. However, Mr. Romney has not explained the latter–he wrongly assumes swing voters embrace conservative doubts about global warming and don’t harbor lasting fears from Deepwater Horizon.

He repeats this lack of empathy on many issues.

Dodd-Frank imposes an unnecessary overlay of new regulations that curtail prudent lending and smother regional banks. The financial collapse was caused by accounting frauds the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley reforms should have caught but didn’t, because the Treasury is too much in the vest pocket of the Wall Street aristocracy.

After trillions in Federal Reserve and Treasury bailouts, multimillion dollar paydays continue for big bank CEOs and their lieutenants, allegedly for “talent”–the remarkable aptitude to nearly destroy global capitalism through irresponsible business practices. Hardly a week goes by without new revelations about schemes to rook investors or evade taxes. Continue reading…

 These are the personal views of Peter Morici, a professor at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business and former chief economist at the U.S. International Trade Commission:

The economy added only 80,000 jobs in October, disappointing forecasters who expected 95,000 to be added. The economy appears to be stuck in too low a gear to make a real dent in the nearly 14 million unemployed.

Unemployment was down to 9.0% from 9.1% the previous month, a change that was not significant given that many adults remain on the sidelines and too discouraged to look for work.

Wholesale and retail trade, health-care and social services, manufacturing, and leisure and hospitality added jobs, whereas telecommunications, banking and securities posted losses. Information technology gained and financial services lost positions in September, but both sectors posted losses for the entire third quarter, reflecting broader layoffs in those sectors with more ahead.

Government employment fell by 24,000 and the private sector added 104,000 jobs. Continue reading…

(These are the personal views of Peter Morici, a professor at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business and former chief economist at the U.S. International Trade Commission.)

Federal finances are in shambles, and Americans should be amused if not disgusted by the explanations and solutions both political parties offer.

President Obama’s budget plan issued in February projects a $1.6 trillion deficit for 2011 and a cumulative shortfall of $11 trillion through 2021.

Things may get worse, as additional revenue and cost savings from health care reforms don’t materialize and the 4% growth assumed by the president’s budget for the next four years proves Pollyanna.

Time and again, Obama and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi have demagogued the problem, blaming two wars and tax cuts instigated by President Bush and the Great Recession.

Continue reading…

These are the personal views of Peter Morici, a professor at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business and former chief economist at the U.S. International Trade Commission:

Friday, forecasters expect the Labor Department to report the economy shed 70,000 jobs in July and that unemployment rose to 9.6%.

Economists expect the private sector created about 100,000 jobs but government employment fell 170,000, as more temporary census jobs disappeared.

Thirteen months into recovery from a deep recession, this is disappointing. The economy must add 13 million private sector jobs by the end of 2013 to bring unemployment down to 6%. President Barack Obama’s policies are not creating conditions for businesses to hire those 320,000 workers each month, net of layoffs.

Net of inventory adjustments, the economy’s demand for goods and services is growing at only 1.3% a year.

In the second quarter, consumer spending; investment in new structures, equipment and software; and government purchases added 4.1% to demand–but as imports grew much more rapidly than exports, the trade deficit tapped off 2.8%. The difference, 1.3%, is annual growth in demand for U.S.-made goods and services. That has been the pace since recovery began in July 2009.

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These are the personal views of Peter Morici, a professor at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business and former chief economist at the U.S. International Trade Commission:

President Obama’s budget deficit task force is clever politics but poor leadership.

Instead of drafting a responsible budget, he seeks to force Republicans to endorse wasteful spending and higher taxes, or be cast as obstructionists.

President Bush was no model of austerity. He inherited a $263 billion surplus from Bill Clinton. By fiscal 2007, the year before the Great Recession, the deficit was $161 billion.

Bush’s foolishnesses started with unnecessary increases in farm subsidies and ended with a TARP that bailed out the banks without imposing needed reforms.

Bush and a Democratic Congress instigated economic collapse by appeasing China on trade, neglecting the cost of imported oil and permitting Americans to borrow profligately to finance a resulting trade deficit exceeding $700 billion.

Continue reading…

By Neal Lipschutz
   A DOW JONES NEWSWIRES COLUMN 

The fine imposed on Bank of America Corp. for allegedly misleading investors about big bonuses it agreed could be paid to Merrill Lynch & Co. executives just before the struggling Merrill was subsumed into BofA illustrates the Securities and Exchange Commission’s punishment conundrum.

There’s no doubt the BofA action, or lack of disclosure, is a serious matter. Yes, it was a frantic time in the annals of American capitalism. The system was rocked. Still, basic tenets of shareholder rights, such as disclosure of material information, must always be respected.

Imagine the position of a theoretical, long-time shareholder of Bank of America. He was an owner when the merger was coming together. He is  frustrated and angry by the SEC’s allegations against Bank of America.

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