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

US life expectancy flat for third year

US life expectancy flat for third year Life expectancy in the United States has stalled for three straight years, the government announced Wednesday. A child born last year can expect to make it to 78 years and 9 1/2 months — the same prediction made for the previous two years. In most of the years […]

2013 Social Security Report

Well I am back at Angry Bear and just getting my feet wet with WordPress, so this first post won’t be ambitious.   The 2013 Annual Report of the Trustees of Social Security was released today Friday the 31st of May. The short take-aways are ‘not much change’ and ‘no news is good news’: date […]

A Brain-Dead "Financial Reporter" at NPR Defines the Problem

Via Doctor Black, who printed the answer but not the question: PIGNAL: This is actually the second bailout for Dexia. In 2008, it had to be bailed out after exceptionally imprudent investing, including in U.S. subprime mortgages. This time around, it was basically dealing with the legacy of the past, and it was trying to […]

Why Are You Out There?

When someone attempts to impede democracy actions are good things: Writer and naturalist Henry David Thoreau was once locked up for refusing to pay a poll tax. He opposed the tax on moral grounds – in a democracy, he argued, a man shouldn’t have to pay to vote…. That night, so the story goes, Thoreau […]

Sheer Idiocy, European (and American) Style

It’s rare to see theft described so directly: Proposals made in July by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision should be redrafted to allow banks to use so-called contingent capital to meet the obligations, the European Banking Federation said in a letter seen by Bloomberg News. They should also be changed so lenders that can’t […]

The Monetary Policy Debates

This article by David Leonhardt in the New York Times is getting a lot of attention. Leonhardt argues that there is an active debate in the economics profession between inflation hawks, moderates and doves and that only the position of hawks and moderates are represented on the Fed open market committee (FOMC). He guesses that […]