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

Tax Rates and Economic Growth Over Ten Year Time Horizons, plus Why a Flat Tax Would Result in Much Slower Economic Growth

by Mike Kimel Tax Rates and Economic Growth Over Ten Year Time Horizons, plus Why a Flat Tax Would Result in Much Slower Economic Growth Last week I had a post looking at the the real GDP growth maximizing income tax rate using both top marginal income tax rates and and “average marginal” “all-in” tax […]

Joseph Stiglitz: Of the 1% by the 1% for the 1%

by Daniel Becker This is an interview of Joseph Stiglitz on Democracy Now regarding his article in the current Vanity Fair.  He discuss the issue of income inequality, taxes, etc and how it has set us up to be less of a land of oportunity than what old Europe was. A few quotes: The question […]

How Tax Rates Affect Investment and Consumption – A Look at the Data

by Mike Kimel How Tax Rates Affect Investment and Consumption – A Look at the DataCross posted at the Presimetrics blog This post looks at how changes in the top marginal tax rates affect peoples’ decisions on how much to consume and invest. Ask a libertarian or conservative economist and the answer is obvious – […]

Thinking about Performance

My aging Subaru had a problem a while back. Leak of transmission fluid; a seal or another failing, leading to steady dripping out. And with little need to open the hood, no gauge—or even an “idiot light”—on the dashboard, it dripped for quite a while. And then some. The first repair—call it Quizzical Effort 1—refilled […]

The Tax Rate that Maximizes Economic Growth, Part 3

by Mike Kimel The Tax Rate that Maximizes Economic Growth, Part 3… With Gov’t Spending, Money Supply and DemographicsCross posted at the Presimetrics blog. Today I will build a model that explains over three quarters of the annual movement in real GDP between 1929 and the present. The model depends on marginal tax rates, government […]

The Tax Rate that Maximizes Economic Growth, Part 2… With Tax Burdens Too

by Mike Kimel The Tax Rate that Maximizes Economic Growth, Part 2… With Tax Burdens Too!Cross posted at the Presimetrics blog. This post continues my look at the relationship between taxes and growth (what I modestly called the “Kimel curve”), which I will continue expanding on over a series of posts. Today I want to […]

Who’s bringing home the dough?

…Corporations. Since earnings season is now well underway, I decided to look at the breakdown of aggregate domestic income (gross domestic income). Corporate profits are up 44.7% since the outset of the US recovery, while wages and salary accruals are up just 0.9%. The chart above illustrates the peak-trough losses (total loss), trough-Q2 2010 gains […]

Private-sector leverage says that it’s not Bill Clinton

What’s your answer? “Thinking about the past few decades… to the best of your knowledge, which ONE of the following U.S. Presidents do you think did the best job of managing the economy?” Bill Clinton Ronald Reagan Barack Obama Lyndon B. Johnson George W. Bush Richard Nixon That’s question #11 of the the Allstate-National Journal […]

Tax Burdens and Economic Growth – Answering the Objections

by Mike Kimel Tax Burdens and Economic Growth – Answering the Objections This piece is cross-posted with the Presimetrics Blog. Consistent with findings in Presimetrics, the book I wrote with Michael Kanell which will be released in August, I’ve had some posts whose results contradict standard economic theory. In some cases, readers have insisted that […]

Presidents, the Tax Burden, and Economic Growth

by Mike Kimel Presidents, the Tax Burden, and Economic Growth This post also appears at the Presimetrics Blog. It contains some information that has appeared in a few different Angry Bear posts, but I think I’m starting to manage to put it into a more coherent narrative. And as I’m able to do that, I’m […]