The Bush administration named its new CEA chair yesterday to replace Greg Mankiw: Harvey Rosen. Rosen is a reasonable, well-respected economist, with a great reputation in the field of public finance. He’s also a very nice guy, but what appeals more to the Bush administration, I’m sure, is that he may be a bit more […]

It’s not an award, but it is greatly appreciated. Announcing this year’s Koufax winners, Dwight writes Hosting the awards allows us to serve as conduits for the opinions of many, many people. During the awards, we try not to express our opinions. It has become my habit, when announcing the winners, to take the opportunity […]

And other gems from those who wish to steal your retirement funds. First, Mr. Frum: Nobody is denying that the bonds and notes in the Social Security Trust Fund are valid. Of course they are. But when Democrats make this point, they are turning what is really an economic question into a legal one. Yes, […]

The January CPI report was released this morning by the BLS. It was eagerly awaited by the financial markets, because last week’s PPI report showed a surprisingly strong rise in producer price inflation in January. As a result, many observers wondered if the CPI report would confirm a significant rise in inflation, or if instead […]

It’s a bit frightening that a policy change in South Korea, whose dollar denominated assets surely pale in comparison to China and Japan’s, can cause this (WSJ, subscription required): NEW YORK — The dollar plunged, posting its largest one-day loss versus the euro since August and dropping to a seven-year low versus the South Korean […]

I’m for free trade, outsourcing, and free mobility of factors of productions – especially labor – as many conservative and liberal economists are. Angrybear reader JackNYC provides us with another reason to lower barriers to international labor mobility. To be fair, however, higher labor force growth would be yet another reason to reverse the Bush […]

Max Sawicky has been documenting how some employees of the Social Security Administration are assisting George W. Bush in his attempt to destroy the program. Max links to the presentation from James B. Lockart III. Let’s take a look at this chart starting with its “earth is flat” slide #7, which is preceded by its […]

Some interesting developments in the foreign exchange markets in the last couple of days, according to the Financial Times: The US dollar was sharply lower on Tuesday after South Korea re-ignited fears that central banks plan to diversify their foreign exchange reserves away from the greenback to include more currencies. The Bank of Korea said […]

Eric Chaney and Richard Berner of Morgan Stanley pose this question: Why haven’t oil prices fallen more in recent months? Most forecasts made late in 2004 for oil prices had them falling in 2005 — Morgan Stanley’s forecast was for an average price of around $37/bbl — and yet they have remained stubbornly high, with […]

For an interesting comment on my recent dialogue with David Altig over Charles Krauthammer’s view that the Social Security Trust Fund’s assets are worthless piece of paper, see William Polley’s What Does It Mean to Default. Among the many very sensible passages is this one: If the Fed is really independent, it can honor its […]