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

World Health, Poverty and development brought alive

By divorced one like Bush Hello everyone. Things have been hectic, so no time to blog. But, I thought these two videos would be of interest. They are Hans Rosling presenting his data via his program that animates the changing statistics. Even the most worldly and well-traveled among us will have their perspectives shifted by […]

Probability and Social Security

by Bruce WebbThe above two figures are from CBO’s Aug 2008 study on long-term Social Security solvency. I am not going to discuss them in depth but just point out that we trap ourselves when we say Oh-mi-God Social Security depletion moved back from 2041 to 2037!!” when the reality is that it is just […]

A new whittle

by reader ilsm More reason to worry about the USA’s AAA bond rating. The Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, United Kingdom Joint Strike Fighter, F-35 Lightning II (see P-47 from WW II Army Air Force fame) is the latest capability dream whittling away US resources, and stopping any war machine corporate welfare worries about Obama […]

Corn ethanol

by cactus I had a few posts in which I noted that it appeared to me that corn ethanol (as opposed to the sugar cane variety) is a hoax being perpetrated on the American public. That conclusion came about as a result of my failure to see how the numbers could work out to make […]

Two stories about water use

rdan Bolinas goes from 400 gal./day household to 100 gal./day household use. Fresno has no meters. These are two anecdotal stories about water use that are interesting, revealing the variety of problems localities face. The stories reflect residential use only, which is about 12% of total water use in the US according to USGS.

I Remember When Mankiw was still a Neo-Keynesian

Cassander, writing at Steve Keen’s Debtwatch,* puts the hammer to those arguing that the death of the patient had nothing to do with the doctor: What a load of bollocks. The “principles of economics” that [N. Gregory] Mankiw champions, and the “More economic research (and teaching)” that [Doug] McTaggart et al are calling for, are […]

Hacktackular! Samuelson on Social Security

by Bruce Webb The following piece is so bad that I won’t even put any of it above the fold, nor will I waste my time critiquing it. But people should know that the battle over Social Security is not over, crap like this is routinely delivered via our major media voices. Robert Samuelson in […]

Contra General Theory Pro "The General Theory …"

Robert Waldmann In the post below, I totally humiliate myself by arguing that they way to appreciate “The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money” is to totally reject the idea that economists should aim for general theories. So which is it ? Do I reject “The General Theory …” or do I accept general […]

Dr Keynes Prescription

Robert Waldmann Oddly I imagine debating Niall Ferguson and manage to make a fool of myself.This requires genius in reverse, so I will post my thoughts as an example of what not to say. Brad DeLong quotes a “friend” who notes that Ferguson, lacking any valid arguments, attempted unsuccessfully to bait Krugman into losing his […]