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

The jobs of tomorrow…?

Rdan For the sake of argument, jobs in our future over the next few years or so appear to be in the health care industry and education. Jobs needing less education than a BA are among the fastest growing. Where are tomorrow’s jobs going to come from? The question is more urgent than ever, with […]

Employment Policy

Robert Waldmann Larry Summers, who is very very good at provoking debate, said “It may be desirable to have a given amount of work shared among more people. But that’s not as desirable as expanding the total amount of work.” Paul Krugman responds here True. But we are not, in fact, expanding the total amount […]

‘New Normal’ For Unemployment?

CBS Moneywatch now features Mark Thoma about 10 posts a month. Apropos Angry Bear exploration of “structural unemployment”, Mark writes on the topic of unemployment: The types of unemployment Economists define three types of unemployment: frictional, structural, and cyclical. Frictional unemployment is defined as the unemployment that occurs because of people moving or changing occupations. […]

I Be Officially Right of Center Now?

As I am arguing on the same side as Henry Kaufman, and against the kind-hearted Mark Thoma, does the phrase “left-of-center” at the top of this blog have as much Memory Meaning as the Suzanne Vega song from Pretty in Pink? Kaufman: During the Greenspan years (1987-2006), the Fed clearly failed to recognize the significance […]

HR3962 as Passed: the importance of close reading

by Bruce Webb H.R.3962:Affordable Health Care for America Act (Engrossed as Agreed to or Passed by House). Back in July I singled out what I thought was the single most important provision of the House Tri-Committee Bill in a post called Sec 116: Golden Bullet or Smoking Gun. Yesterday I followed up with a new […]

More on the Estate Tax

by Linda Beale (cross posted with ataxingmatter) Tax Prof and its commenters More on the Estate Tax–the Heritage Foundation speaks gobbledygookhat tip to Tax Prof and its commenters The Heritage Foundation, I’m afraid I’ve concluded, is not a “think tank” at all–it’s a propaganda tank. And the propaganda it spews tends to be in support […]

STILL the most important sentence in the House HC Bill

by Bruce Webb Much of the criticism about the House Health Care Bill coming from the left revolves around the ‘fact’ that it has no meaningful premium and so profit controls. Moreover most of those same people are promoting HR676 as an alternative. Frankly those people simply haven’t read either bill with attention to detail. […]

Seasonal Posting: NYTFail, Part 2

First, David Leonhardt argued that this recession was good for workers. Now, Floyd Norris apparently has decided to mix and match data. (I wonder if the fact many NYT employees who are looking at their 45-day severance offers is having an effect on its economic coverage.) One of the standard “economist jokes” is about the […]