by Bruce Webb This may be too wonkish for the Virtual Summit, so let me try it out here. A lot of crosstalk on Social Security ‘crisis’ is a result of three different definitions of ‘crisis’ which I would sum up as follows: Crisis one: Social Security promised benefits which may not be payable.Crisis two: […]
by Bruce Webb I mention from time to time that I talk with a number of D.C. policy types about Social Security, but mostly don’t use names because the conversations are officially off the record. Well a group of them, spearheaded by Roger Hickey’s folks at Campaign for America’s Future, have gone on the record […]
Roosevelt Institute Senior Fellow Marshall Auerback and Braintruster at the New Deal 2.0 explores the possibility, and what it means if deficit hysteria continues unchecked: A recent poll by Douglas Schoen and Patrick Caddell suggests that swing voters in the US, who are key to the fate of the Democratic Party, care most about three […]
Crooks and Liars has us look at employers shifting the cost of health insurance to workers. In MA this shift will happen with public employees such as teachers probably soon as well. Health care costs soar for insured workers presents another chart to gain a perspective when someone says health insurance premiums will rise with […]
One of the many causes of the financial crisis was excessive reliance on excessively generous ratings of novel financial instruments. There are proposals to change the incentives faced by the bond rating agencies to prevent them from being so lax. I don’t think that any such reform is likely to be successful. I think it […]
by cactus Last week I wrote a post about some nonsense Glen Beck was peddling, with said nonsense originating with Thomas Woods. Woods claimed a smorgasbord of things, the dollar meal version being: 1. lefties talk up how the New Deal (big gubmint, tax hikes) saved the economy from the Great Depression but it didn’t […]
Robert Waldmann Kevin Drum tries to list all proposed explanations for the financial crisis. I see if I can add others after the jump. The Drum roll 1. Housing bubble (i.e., the pure mania aspect of the thing). 2. Massive increase in leverage throughout the financial system. 3. Global savings glut/persistent current account deficits. 4. […]
A note of comparison might come in handy when thinking in big numbers. The top 25 hedge fund managers made a record $25.3 billion dollars in 2009. And despite all those dramatic congressional hearings, average compensation of Wall Street bankers rose by 27 percent in 2009. Meanwhile, banks are hiding their debt with the same […]
Maybe more about this at some point in the future. Consider it a RawShock Test, and feel free to describe what you see in comments.