Erik Hare

Erik Hare is an Economics and Business columnist for MintPress. Hare is author of "The Long View", which focuses on decades long trends that influence our economic lives. Hare is also a freelance writer and world renown blogger at Barataria. His work has appeared in Salon, the Star-Tribune, St Paul Pioneer Press, many other publications. Hare also holds a degree in Chemical Engineering from Carnegie-Mellon, and holds 9 US patents.

Overhead or Head Count? Regressive Taxation

Taxes on employment and other employee expenses add a lot of cost to per job, making employers slow to hire at a time when jobs are scarce. These regressive taxes are also a growing share of Federal revenue.

Erik Hare
By Erik Hare
Hiring Our Heroes New York City

What is your job worth? Any person lucky enough to have a full-time job in today’s world probably depends heavily on their salary, but the cost to their employer goes far beyond that -- there are also benefits, like health care and retirement plans, and myriad taxes. The total cost of an employee is far more than pay, and it can roughly be called

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Trading At The Speed Of Light

Many believe the stock markets are rigged. The hardest push to fix this isn’t coming from regulators, but from one trader who is sick of it all and has Wall Street’s attention.

Erik Hare
By Erik Hare
Brad Katsuyama

On April Fools’ Day, the S&P 500 hit a new high of 1884. It wasn’t a joke, but it also didn’t provide the biggest entertainment of the day. Trading noticeably slowed on the New York Stock Exchange when a debate on CNBC started to sound more like hockey game commentary than a financial discussion. “Shame on both of you for falsely accusing

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Jobs: Back To Even

Two years down, four years back up — jobs have finally returned to their pre-recession peak.

Erik Hare
By Erik Hare
Economy

As of March, the total net loss of jobs in the United States during the official recession of 2008-2009 was finally made up. The graph below says it all: The total number of jobs in the U.S. stood at 116.0 million in January 2008, then fell to 107.2 million by February 2010. The net loss of 8.8 million jobs was finally regained in March

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Europe Scrambles For New Natural Gas Source

The conflict in Ukraine has highlighted Europe’s dependence on Russian fossil fuels, especially natural gas. New sources and pipelines, though, could alter geopolitics.

Erik Hare
By Erik Hare
Russia Baltic Pipeline

Russia caught the world off guard when it sent soldiers into Crimea on Feb. 28. Europe considered economic sanctions against Russia, but ultimately targeted only a few government officials. This was considered a weak response, but the European Union relies too heavily on Russian gas to have taken it further. Natural gas from Russia flows into the

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Can’t Wait Til Payday: PayDay Lenders Continue To Prey On The Poor

Payday loans are a huge industry in the U.S., and millions rely on them. But the predatory practices of the lenders are meeting more urgent calls for reform.

Erik Hare
By Erik Hare

There are many reasons people don’t have bank accounts. For one thing, check-cashing stores can actually be cheaper than fees on everything. But some of these customers also use such “non-bank lenders” for a “payday loan,” or a two-week advance on their next paycheck. In the early 1990s, 36 states bowed to lobbying pressure and authorized small

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Retirement Wave Could Mean Golden Years For Workers

Baby boomers are hitting their so-called “golden years,” starting a retirement wave across the U.S. workforce that neither individuals nor the government are prepared for.

Erik Hare
By Erik Hare
Janice Durflinger poses for a photo at her workplace in Lincoln, Neb., Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2012. Durflinger is still working at age 76, running computer software programs for a bank. Still, she worries that a higher retirement age would be tough on people with more physically demanding jobs. "No matter how much you exercise, age takes its toll," Durflinger said. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)

While the idea of retirement may be appealing, especially with winter weather making for long commutes this year, an awful lot of workers are not on track to be able to retire. An annual survey conducted by the Employee Benefit Research Institute found that only 18 percent of respondents are “very confident” that they’ll have enough for retirement

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New Fed Chair Turns Focus To Jobs

In her first press conference as chair of the Federal Reserve, Janet Yellen brought a remarkable new openness to what may be the world’s most powerful leadership position.

Erik Hare
By Erik Hare
Gernaro Saporito

“As I'll explain more fully in a moment, this change in our guidance does not indicate any change in the committee's policy intentions as set forth in its recent statements. … Let me explain the economic outlook that underlies these actions.” That may not sound like a small revolution in the works, but Janet Yellen, on the job for less than a

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