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

A/l/a/n/ C/a/r/u/b/a/ Milt Shook Explains It All

Ken Houghton notes the obvious corollary to Bruce Webb’s post on the 1st: if you don’t “read the bill,” the obstructionists will lie about it. UPDATE: And now corrects his misreading (see Bruce’s update below, following on Mitt Shook’s comment). Milt Shook demonstrates in detail that, even if you do, people such as Alan Caruba […]

Public Option, Cooperatives or a Cooperative

Robert Waldmann can’t resist writing about health care reform. The actual debate seems very focused on the public option — will the minority of Americans who have access to the new insurance exchanges have the opportunity to buy health insurance from the US government. Notably this is the aspect of reform opposed by the health […]

The case of Troy Davis

by cactus Holy wow. Here’s something in the NY Times: The Supreme Court on Monday ordered a federal trial court in Georgia to consider the case of Troy Davis, who is on death row in state prison there for the 1989 murder of an off-duty police officer.…Seven of the witnesses against Mr. Davis have recanted, […]

Is 60 really the Senate’s New 50? If so do you got a link?

by Bruce Webb In a previous post Robert asks the penetrating question Kevin Drum Huh? only to conclude quickly that he Robert was wrong and Kevin was right. I don’t agree for reasons laid out in comments, I invite anyone to join the discussion. But in the course of that a commenter suggested the answer […]

Kevin Drum Huh ?

Robert Waldmann knows that either Robert Waldmann or Kevin Drum is very confused. Help me out here. update: Drum is right and I’m wrong. Thanks guest in comments. I should have checked before posting. Drum wrote But even if this works, no one thinks that such a bill can get 60 votes in the Senate. […]

Font size change

rdan You may have noticed the change in font size for text. I was experimenting with the font size and inadvertently saved the change, which for some reason does not readily change back. It should be easy through the widgets…however, meanwhile, let me know if the font size is easier or harder to read, and […]

Looking for an Angry Bear on world trade

Angry Bear is looking for an economist or other bright mind (no jokes please…well, some anyway)) to help us keep the issue of trade, trade policy, WTO, trade deficit/surpluses in the global and national contexts on the front burner at Angry Bear, not just sometimes. Send me an e-mail if you have the interest and […]

World Trade Organization ruling, IMF to rule

rdan The New York Times carries a story that is actually probably of more import than Fed announcement of not renewing the Treasury Bond program. Wednesday’s ruling goes to the heart of one of the biggest trade issues pending between China and the West: whether intellectual property, like copyrighted songs, books and movies, should be […]

Technology and unemployment

rdan Sandwichman, the go to guy on labor issues and author of the series Chapman, Labor, and Unemployment at Econospeak suggests an alternative to the myth of supremacy of capital, which is after all an idea that reminds me of King Midas in our little child version, but in the adult world has several versions […]