Ballpark Figures

On May 5, voters in Forsyth and Guilford counties will decide whether they want to foot two-thirds of the bill for a new baseball stadium. I haven’t yet decided how I’ll vote, but I’m leaning towards “no” for one reason: Supporters of the stadium are trying to sell it as something it ain’t

Eliminating Rental Tax Break Won’t Harm the Furniture Market

Recently the Clinton administration proposed eliminating a tax break that benefits some homeowners in the Triad. Currently, income from renting one’s home out for 15 days or less in a given year is not subject to federal income tax. Under the proposal, all rental income would be taxable

Invest in Bridges and Roads, not Rebates

After much political wrangling, Congress passed an economic stimulus package this month. No one knows for sure whether the increasingly sluggish U.S. economy will dip into recession in 2008 or just grow very slowly, but Congress isn’t waiting to find out. In the fourth quarter of 2007 the economy grew at an annualized rate of just 0.6 percent

Greenbucks in Greensboro? An Odd Idea With Some Merit

Buying local has long been a goal of those who pay attention to the environmental impact of their shopping decisions. During the Great Recession, the buy-local concept had been adopted by chambers of commerce hoping to reinvigorate sagging local economies by keeping more spending at home

Housing is a Drag

This has been a year of surprises for those who thought the housing sector had nowhere to go but up. The cautiously optimistic forecasts of a year ago were proven wrong, as each new release of housing data was more depressing than the one before it. Does the housing slump have the U.S. economy primed for a serious downturn, or are things less dire than they seem

Sometimes a City Has to Have Fun

Economics is an increasingly common tool in policy-making. Over the years, the federal government and many state governments have increased their use of cost-benefit analysis. Local governments have come to rely on studies that measure the economic benefits of this project or that

It’s Time to Deregulate Taxi Service at Piedmont Triad Airport

The pricing and selection of airline routes have been deregulated since 1978, resulting in lower airfares and more accessible air travel. To be sure, there have been problems with the way the federal government has implemented airline deregulation, but by and large the process has been a success story

Will Housing Take Furniture Down With It?

2007 has been a year of surprises for those who thought the housing sector had nowhere to go but up. The cautiously optimistic forecasts of a year ago were proven wrong, as each new release of housing data was more depressing than the one before it. The rule of thumb in home furnishings is that a fifth of all sales derive from a home purchase, so this is all pretty unsettling to retailers. Does the housing slump have the U.S. economy primed for a serious downturn, or are things less dire than they seem

Are Jobs Really Disappearing?

Mark Twain once said: “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.” One of the things we all know for sure at what is probably the start of the Recession of 2008 is that the economy is losing jobs. But it depends what you mean by that

The Big Borrower: The United States Depends Too Heavily on Other Nations for Money and Brains

Over the last couple of decades, much has been made of the “twin deficits” faced by the American economy. Usually the deficits people have in mind are the trade deficit and the government’s budget deficit. The pair grew dramatically during the 1980s, scaring a lot of people in the process. Nowadays, as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product, the trade deficit has grown even larger than in the 1980s and the budget deficit is close to doing the same