Is this the best US recovery that policy can buy?
The economic policy debate we should be having is a serious discussion about the profile of the upturn and what if anything can be done to deliver a stronger and more job-friendly outcome.
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Record numbers late on US loans
More than one in seven borrowers were behind on their mortgage payments or facing foreclosure at the end of the third quarter as rising unemployment continued to fan the flames of the housing crisis
Pace of US job cuts eases
The number of US workers claiming jobless benefits held last week, hovering near its lowest level in nearly a year, signalling that the pace of job cuts is easing
Obama warns on US public debt pile
US President Barack Obama warned that the US economy could head into a “double-dip recession” unless urgent steps were taken to rein in mounting public debt
US housing starts plunge by 10.6% in October
New US residential construction plunged last month, falling for the first time since April and knocking wind from the housing market’s recovery, official figures showed
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US engine revs up
The administration is a good third of the way through a stimulus package that is indispensable to prevent growth from slowing down again
Angry Americans feel they are still in slump
For most Americans, the return to growth is a pure abstraction. Next week’s jobless numbers will be the more accurate reflection of the public’s mood, writes Edward Luce
Forecast of muted US revival in 2010
The likely shape of the US recovery remains an open question, with the central uncertainty being how vigorously private demand will expand as government props for growth begin to fade.
US weighs tax credit as jobless cure
Economists and policymakers are considering a targeted jobs tax credit to combat unemployment, which is projected to keep on rising for several months, peaking at around 10.3% in early 2010
The free market is not up to the job of creating work
The US may be looking at long-term, double-digit unemployment. Only massive programmes are equal to the challenge of restoring stable growth to our economy, writes Mort Zuckerman
The US economy is still struggling
Is the worst over? Some recent figures point that way, but for the moment, the emphasis needs to stay on caution not optimism
The united states of spending cuts
States will not change their perverse fiscal rules without Washington’s firm prompting. Further fiscal relief from Congress must be on an equal per-capita basis, so as not to reward past profligacy
American jobs data are worse than we think
The possibility of a very high and persistent unemployment rate is not, as yet, part of the mainstream US policy deliberations, writes Mohamed El-Erian
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