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

Chinese Yuan

The economic headline this morning is that China has agreed to allow the yuan to appreciate. The announcement is being credited with about a 1% higher opening for the stock market and numerous pundits are claiming this will make a significant difference. But this has happened before and it had little impact. From 2004 to […]

Presidents, the Tax Burden and Corruption – Explaining Economic Growth

by Mike Kimel This post appeared in the Presimetrics blog. Presidents, the Tax Burden and Corruption – Explaining Economic Growth One of the topics we cover in Presimetrics is the relationship between the tax burden (i.e., the share of income going to taxes) and economic growth. As shown also in a recent post, Presidents who […]

Medicare Fee Ordeal- Continued

Tom aka Rusty Rustbelt Medicare Fee Ordeal – Continued As of Friday the Senate has passed a six (6) month patch to counter the Sustained Growth Rate formula cuts directed at most physicians. The average for all physicians was a 21% cut, with changes ranging from primary care (+6%) to cardiology (-42%). The House will […]

Peanut Butter Regulations

by Rusty Rustbelt PEANUT BUTTER REGULATIONS Watching people spread peanut butter is interesting. I am a semi-neurotic peanut butter spreader, I try to cover most of the bread and try to get the thickness close to even, but I am not a perfectionist-neurotic spreader. There are also slap-and-eat messy spreaders. Having dealt with a wide […]

Younger v. Harris ‘Doctrine’

by Beverly Mannoriginally posted at The Annarborist A Blueprint for Avoiding the Younger v. Harris ‘Doctrine’ In Some Cases The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit last month enjoined a Pennsylvania county prosecutor’s office from indicting teenage girls who had sued in federal court because their county’s prosecutor was threatening “sexting” indictments unless […]

Which do you trust less – Big Business (including Wall Street) or Big Government?

Robert Reich asks and answers the question “Which do you trust less – Big Business (including Wall Street) or Big Government?”: But fundamentally, the debate is absurd. It’s not the purpose of the private sector to protect the public. Companies like Goldman Sachs, Massey Energy, WellPoint, and BP will do everything they can to make […]

If your advertizing budget is small

Jon Walker at FDL begins a chat on politics and agendas. The big picture is built on thousands of pixels…so is national politics apparently if your advertizing budget is small. The elected officials in the cooperatives formed a large pool of potential recruits to run for political office and to be elected to positions within […]

Alan Simpson

Firedoglake takes on Simpson: Alan Simpson: Cutting Social Security Benefits to “Take Care of the Lesser People in Society” …cuts he would recommend to the President and Congress on CNBC, Simpson said “We are going to stick to the big three,” meaning Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. His sentiments haven’t changed. (Rdan here…the transcript reads […]