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

Angry Bear Center for School Teachers

by rdan In a spirit of cooperation, I have lifted this post from Tim Schilling (economist and Asst. Dir. Powell Institute) blog MV=PQ. It is geared for a lesson plan and material for a high school economic class (gr. 12). Please comment with that in mind. Of course any of this is used in history, […]

Andrew Samwick ponders The Ancestral Party

“On days like this, I wonder if I’m still a Republican.“ I gave up on the Party long ago; I gave up hope when a (very) distant relative wrote an op-ed for the NYT on why he would not support impeachment in 1998, and was attacked by the party for the next few years, before […]

Tax rates, growth, and tax revenues

by cactus Together with a co-author, I’ve been working on a book looking at how a number of series – everything from economic growth to abortion rates – have evolved over the length of each administration beginning with Ike. The process is starting to move, we’ve gotten ourselves an agent, and we hope to have […]

Voterwatch.org wants you to participate in presidential debate

I have an interesting opportunity for you guys at Angry Bear! Firstoff, thank you for your continued support of Facing Up to the Nation’sFinances. Now, however, I am writing about the presidential debates.Please read the letter below and let me know if you’re interested: Hello, my name is Billy Hallowell and I am the director […]

The Mukasey Rules: Schools not to send your children to

The traditional annual list of Party Schools now has a jump-start. In no particular order, except the way CNN listed them: DukeDartmouthOhio StateSyracuseTuftsColgateKenyonMorehouseMiddlebury CollegeRhodes College The reasoning is such that Only the Current Attorney General could love: “This is a law that is routinely evaded,” said John McCardell, former president of Middlebury College in Vermont […]

Prognostications January to August

by One Salient Oversight Things are progessing swimmingly For me, that is… in terms of my economical prognostication. So I’ll beat my own drum yet again – I know you’re all sick of someone saying “I told you so” but I still can’t understand why high priced financial analysts can make a living out of […]

Stagflation

by reader One Salient Oversight My definition of stagflation Is when Unemployment is 5% or more and when Inflation is 5% or more at the same time. According to the raw data at the Misery Index site, the US experienced my definition of stagflation during the following periods: July 1970 – February 1971 (Unemployment average […]

Capability gaps

by reader ilsm If the capability “gaps” were properly characterized, the whittle this week demonstrates that technical processes are not executed to deliver the capability to close the “gap”. GAO again gives some findings to work from. “A Knowledge Based Funding Approach Could Improve Major Weapon System Program Outcomes”. July 2008. The finding include: “For […]

The Depression and Post WW II Recessions

Since others agreed in the prior post that the depression chart would be better in real dollars rather than nominal dollars I though I would take this opportunity to post this chart. In business cycle analysis if you use NBER official terminology the cyle should be divided into three phases. The first is recession from […]

Added commentary on questionable economic analysis

Moon of Alabama used this chart to chat about Schlaes. GDP numbers according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis (bigger graph) A. Smoot Hawley Tariff ActThe first misstep according to Shlaes was the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act which increased tariffs on imports to the U.S. by up to 50%. It was put into law in June […]