Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.

Whence Fall the Banks of England, England Falls, 2007 version

Shira, the kids, and the m-i-l went to see Mary Poppins on Broadway for the former’s birthday. In this version, the father still works for the bank and is given a choice early on: he can loan money to someone who promises to invest the money in business ventures in Foreign Lands and make marvelous […]

Big oil, big water, and big spending…who is the economy for?

rdan The LA Times reports on news regarding shale oil development: Salt Lake City – A titanic battle between the West’s two traditional power brokers – Big Oil and Big Water – has begun. At stake is one of the largest oil reserves in the world, a vast cache trapped beneath the Rocky Mountains containing […]

"Should we return to the Certificate of Need (CON)?

cross posted with Health Care Think Tank by STR “Should we return to the Certificate of Need (CON)? In the 70s and 80s many states had health care Certificate of Need laws. In general, the CON required state approval for the construction or major renovations of hospitals, the construction or major renovation of nursing home […]

If conservatives no longer take free markets seriously, why should liberals?

rdan Jamie Galbraith in the Predator State: Galbraith follows with an impertinent question: if conservatives no longer take free markets seriously, why should liberals? Why keep liberal thought in the straitjacket of pay-as-you-go, of assigning inflation control to the Federal Reserve, of attempting to “make markets work”? Why not build a new economic policy based […]

Reasons I Haven’t Needed to Post

davenoon at LG&M and Kikuchiyo Jones subbing for the good Roger Ailes both clobbered the WSJ’s most egregious fluffing this year. Martin Feldstein continues to try to destroy the previously-brilliant David Warsh’s reputation by openly declaring that the major Bush administration policy initiative was a complete failure, and that a dollar spent with a multiplier […]

I Do Not Think These Words Mean What the Reporter Thinks They Do, Auto Sales Version

Via Dr. Black, this piece yields preciousness: “You have to stay on top of your game,” said Sklar, 65, a straight-talker who wears cuff links to work and has managed sales crews for a quarter-century. “You have to maximize your opportunities. You have to do what you have to do to make a deal.” [emphasis […]

Income distribution and GDP, it matters

I should title this: Yeah, it is just like 1929 you freak’n see, hear and speak no inequality monkeys. I have this pile of income data sorted out from Saez’s work (the GDP is BEA). My thoughts regarding our economy is that income inequality (or equality) matters. It matters so much, that it is the […]

Noise Traders

rdan Blast from the past but the question remains: How do the wealthy actually plan: rational as in markets, or wealth expectations, see research begun but not continued here: 1990 Noise Traders. Robert will be surprised today. Update: Link corrected from pdf to html, which is not as easily read. Named authors are Brad DeLong, […]

Workers ruined US Economy by spending and then not working?

rdan PGL at Econospeak points to this article in the NYT by Casey Mulligan. Mark Thoma at Economist’s View picks up on the item as well, that the reasons for higher unemployment figures lay squarely on the shoulders of US workers. Good discussion happens at these sites. It sure is a poke in the eye […]

Symbolman: Dangerous lunatic or prophet before his time?

by Bruce WebbBack in the day even to hint at some of the subjects of Symbolman’s brilliant flash productions was to mark you as being infected with Bush Derangement Syndrome (BDS). But now in the waning days of Bush/Cheney maybe it is time to push back against the revisionism. Warning if you ever supported Bush […]