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

Two Wings of the Republican Party

by cactus Two Wings of the Republican Party A few facts (labeled with “F”s) and a few questions (labeled with “Q”s): F1. Sarah Palin has stated that if McCain loses, she will stay on the national stage and perhaps seek the top spot herself in 2012. F2. Sarah Palin’s presence on the ticket has energized […]

Debt watch

by OSO Sadly that is the case. US Public debt has increased and in the lastweek it has gone up over $1000. I’m running a weekly debt watch over at my blog. It’s simple mathematicsreally: Public Debt as % of latest GDP figures, as well as Public Debtdivided by latest population figures. One Salient Ovesight […]

Election Story Interlude

In contrast to Mankiw’s attitude (see cactus’s post below*), my favorite election story of the year comes from Ms. Mochi_tsuki: So they started explaining to me what an absentee ballot is and how to fill one out. I pointed out that I’d spent 11 years of my adult life overseas and was very familiar with […]

Mankiw’s Incentives

by cactus Mankiw’s Incentives I know this has received comment here at Angry Bear a few weeks back (sorry – I’m in too much of a hurry to find the link right now) but a post by Greg Mankiw looking at his own incentive structure under the proposed Obama and McCain tax systems sticks in […]

New savings vehicles in the works?

Investment News suggested the following is being considered: House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller, D-Calif., and Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee’s Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support, are looking at redirecting those tax breaks to a new system of guaranteed retirement accounts to which all […]

Why I Don’t Do Market Timing

Starting in September, my income, such as it were, is basically in C$. Stephen Gordon explains, with graphics, why that has been such a bad trade. The scariest part: The 2002-2008 expansion provided significant real income gains, and more than half of those gains were due to the improvement in Canada’s terms of trade. So […]

Is Douglas Holtz-Eakin still an economist?

Via Dr. Black, we get CNN reporting: Younger, healthier workers likely wouldn’t abandon their company-sponsored plans, said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, McCain’s senior economic policy adviser. “Why would they leave?” said Holtz-Eakin. “What they are getting from their employer is way better than what they could get with the credit.” And why is it better? Because of […]

Who is Neel Kashkari?

by rdan Who is Neel Kashkari? Neel Kashkari was designated as the Interim Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Stability on October 6, 2008. In this capacity, Mr. Kashkari oversees the Office of Financial Stability including the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Mr. Kashkari also continues to hold the position of Assistant Secretary of the […]

November 4 a watershed moment or not

by rdan An opinion at Salon caught my attention….here is part of the main point: As his campaign manager has described it, John McCain is now looking at a “narrow-victory scenario.” “The fact that we’re in the race at all,” added Steve Schmidt, “is a miracle. Because the environment is so bad and the head […]

Taxation’s Rhetoric: Today and yesterday’s economic crap

by: Divorced one like Bush In a posting regarding which presidents would be considered socialist I found the following curious:1921 – 4% 73% Census1922 – 4% 56% Census1923 – 3% 56% Census1924 – 1.5% 46% Census1925-1928 – 1.5% 25% Census1929 – 0.375% 24% Census1930-1931 – 1.125% 25% Census 1982-1986 12 brackets 12% 50% IRS1987 5 […]