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

We learn why they hate social security

Lifted from an e-mail from coberly We learn why they hate social security: NCPSSM e-mail (update)Apparently, these are the “good-old days” our nation’s fiscal hawks relish. The Peterson Foundation’s David Walker co-hosted CNBC’s Squawk Box this morning (personally, we yearn for the good-old days when so-called “news” shows were hosted by journalists—not partisan advocates—but that’s […]

Carried Interest: Senate Getting Swayed by Lobbyists

by Linda Beale Crossposted with Ataxingmatter Carried Interest: Senate Getting Swayed by Lobbyists The Senate started discussion of the “extenders” legislation on Tuesday. IN the House version, HR 4213, there is finally a carried interest provision, though it is a weak one. (Recall that carried interest is the amount that managers of hedge, equity and […]

Nick Rowe asks if new Keynsian models make sense

Robert Waldmann Nick Rowe asks a very interesting question. After the jump I attempt an answer Please read Rowe’s post first. The following will make no sense at all if you don’t (note reading Rowe’s post is a necessary not a sufficient condition for it to make sense). The short explanation is that Rowe finds […]

C+I+G+T

Late last month there was a debate among several bloggers over an article by Scott Sumner over US growth after the Reagan revolution. In the debate it was suggested that it would behelpful to do the analysis by looking at the various components of GDP–consumption, investment, government and trade . I was sidetracked on other […]

Crooked Timber notes from the FT

First, go read Henry on the lambasting of, especially, Turkey by U.S. idiots. Apparently, any U.N. vote is wholly the responsibility of everyone except the people who presented the resolution. Note also that the editorial page has a much more interesting piece on economics than all those Zogby myths. Maybe more about that later, but […]

In the name of shareholders

One of the memes used to justify corporate actions is ‘things are done to increase shareholder value’. We all know ‘value’ can be interpreted in different ways, oft times after the fact of actions since shareholder participation has rather cumbersome mechanisms for participation. Maybe a new way will emerge to aid greater participation of more […]

And now for something completely different

Robert Waldmann Those of us who fear global warming want to make it more expensive to burn coal. One way to do this is to impose absurdly high wages and restrictive work rules on coal mines. We know how to drive prices up. It is easy. Militant unions have shown the way. I propose the […]