by cactus The End of a Recession… And Where We’re Going There seems to be some misunderstanding among most people about what constitutes the “end of a recession.” The end, or the trough, does not signify all is well, or even that everything is improving. The best description for the end of a recession comes […]
by Bruce Webb & Coberly (Update: links to Google versions of spreadsheets added. .xls versions available by request)The Northwest Plan is put forth here as a replacement for the plan of Nothing The Cost of Inactivity: ‘Nothing’ as a Plan for Social Security. Not that there is anything wrong with Nothing, we did nothing between […]
Via Brad DeLong, I see Time magazine has identified the “25 people to ‘blame’ for the financial crisis.” [my sarcastic quotes on blame; Time appears to be serious] Amazingly, none of TWX’s (mostly former) top management—who pushed LBOs in the 1980s and Internet bubbles in the 1990s—makes on the list. More amazingly, Lew Ranieri is […]
by Rusty (STR) The Great Tax Debate Employer-paid health insurance is usually a non-taxable benefit to the employee. IRC S106. Over the years this “loophole” has popped up in various discussions of tax fairness and expanding health care coverage. The Obama administration has floated various trial balloons, and Senator Baucus (D. Montana), an influential player […]
by Bruce Webb; plan details and numbers by Coberly and Arne The Northwest Plan takes as a starting point by answering the question raised in A Time for Clarity by coming down clearly on the side of the beneficiary. Which among other things means accepting that the current Trust Fund is an asset and not […]
by Bruce Webb Over the next couple of days I’ll be rolling out what I am tentatively calling the Northwest Plan for Fixing Social Security, ‘Northwest’ because the three current contributers happen to live in the Pacific Northwest. But before doing so I want to lay out some of the conceptual differences underlying various discussions […]
By Spencer, What is causing the rise in oil prices? Part of it is that $30 oil in December was most likely too low, and as the world economy and oil demand bottomed, oil prices should have also bottomed. OK, that should explain oil in the $30 -$50 range. I expected to see oil bounce […]
by Bruce Webb The 2009 Report of the Trustees of Social Security will be released late in the afternoon on Tuesday the 12th. Reports from all years are available starting from this page Reports from the Board of Trustees or you can view the HTML, download the PDF, or order a paper copy of the […]
rdan Inspector General report for higher education loan programs and bankers was just published. Another story of another regulatory body being misdirected and limited in its duties.