Almost Classical

English: Economic regions of California, as defined by California Economic Strategy Panel, October 2006 Northern California Northern Sacramento Valley Greater Sacramento Bay Area Central Coast San Joaquin Valley Central Sierra Southern California Southern Border (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) What do the strongest state economies in the United States share? Blue states with high taxes? NOPE. Red states, with low taxes and right-to-work laws? NOPE. In the end, it is LOCATION. In particular, the states in the West and Southwest are the big powers of the U.S. economy. That's the only thing they have in common. Really. Read more: Economic Power States for 2016-17  - All in the West. The perennial leaders have been California and Utah , two states without a whole lot in common other than mountains, saltwater lakes and the tech industry. Texas kinda sorta belongs on the leader list, too, given that it didn't miss the 2016 top 10 by all that much (it came in 17th place), and i...

Middle-class families have found themselves stagnating for the last two decades (at least). The Washington Post has published an outstanding series on the issues affecting the middle-class. The stories are long and well researched. ABOUT THIS SERIES: The American middle class is floundering, and it has been for decades. The Post examines the mystery of what's gone wrong and shows what the country must focus on to get the economy working for everyone again. Chapter 1: Why America's middle class is lost http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/business/2014/12/12/why-americas-middle-class-is-lost/ Chapter 2: The devalued American worker http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/business/2014/12/14/the-devalued-american-worker/ Chapter 3: The college trap that keeps people poor http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/business/2014/12/15/the-college-trap-that-keeps-people-poor/ Chapter 4: A black hole for our best and brightest http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/business/2014/12/16/a-black-hole-f...

Many in the chattering class, especially the economists and politicians on the left, keep telling us "Austerity has failed!" No, austerity hasn't been tried. I won't even bother with links to Paul Krugman's near-daily calls for stimulus — and inflation — in Europe, which would require a complete disregard for European experiences and German biases towards savings and low-inflation. Such economic arguments are beyond silly: convince Germans that an 11 percent savings rate is a bad idea? Really? Cause inflation in the hopes it will force Germans to spend money? Krugman and other economists can suggest these solutions because they know, they must know, that German citizens are not about to go on a spending binge and buy Greek, Spanish, or Italian goods. Yes, Germans really do save more than 11.4 percent of their income. And for ten years, Germany employed true austerity and labor reforms. They loosened labor restrictions (compared to the rest of Europe), slowed...

When Paul Krugman and other progressives talk about the risks of austerity in Europe, they are forgetting a basic fact: Europe and Japan are getting grayer and grayer. There are more retirees than young people, and that means lower and lower rates of productivity. I often cite two authors willing to confront this truth: Megan McArdle and Robert Samuelson. In the April 2012 issue of The Atlantic, McArdle bluntly assesses the issue of a graying population in the Western nations. It is a problem the United States will soon experience, too. First, a few paragraphs from the lengthy McArdle piece. You absolutely should read the entire article. (If you don't read The Atlantic, you should.) Europe's Real Crisis The Continent's problems are as much demographic as financial. They won't go away soon. By MEGAN MACROCELL  http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/04/europe-8217-s-real-crisis/8915/   Italy's fertility rate has actually been inching up from it...