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

Health Care Thoughts: Reform Status According to Really Smart People

by Tom aka Rusty Rustbelt Health Care Thoughts: Reform Status According to Really Smart People So after two days in rooms full of top notch front line experts, and two nights sleeping on a couch in a hospital waiting room, I offer a list of key take-aways.. This is reporting only, not advocacy. Some of my […]

Weekend Reflection Points

The lead article in the current AER is available here (gated, apparently, though the link isn’t working; h/t Tom Bozzo [on FB] and Brad DeLong; I was using the paper copy). The most interesting part so far: the authors only considered the documented costs of air pollution—not land, not water—in deriving the (embarrassingly negative) ROI […]

Health Insurance, American Style

by Mike Kimel Following a merger, a few months ago I took a severance package from my most recent employer. Put another way, I became unemployed. I started looking for another job but without much luck. In the last few weeks, I’ve also started doing some consulting work with two clients. Its been sporadic but […]

Topical thread…What is a good job?

I suggest these questions, but this is not a question about ideal jobs in imagination but real jobs that are attainable. I think all of us have some notion of what elements constitute a ‘good’ job in the broad perspective (policy and macro), and given human nature varies according to personal goals, age, and circumstance. […]

Public Option Opt Out and the Commerce Clause

by Bruce Webb Well it looks like Harry Reid is going to introduce a bill that includes a Public Option with a state opt-out provision. Which I guess means the Tenthers won’t have to secede from the Union after all. But it raises some questions. Let’s say I am from Washington State and have an […]

Health Reform: does limiting the exclusion for employer-provided insurance make sense?

by Linda Beale [also posted on ataxingmatter] Both President Obama and Senator Max Baucus, key players in the health reform debate, have now indicated that one source of funding for health care reform on the table is a possible limitation in the exclusion from income of employer-provided insurance. See, e.g., Connolly, President Pivots on Taxing […]