CoRev asks if anyone wants to discuss the justifications of the beneficiaries of the different parties policies. So I though this gives me an opportunity to present some recently publishedCBO data on income and tax that could give people something to tie the discussion to. Republican policy has been to favor the more affluent in […]
by Bruce Webb There is a huge disturbance in the Force, at least as sensed by the Jedi of FireDogLake, Democratic Underground, AMERICAblog, and OpenLeft, which is to say among the Obama-skeptics of the Left. The substance is this, in a last minute move prior to adjournment Nancy Pelosi pushed through the rule for handling […]
“If he’s (Pres. Obama) such a student of history, has he not understood that, you know, that’s the one thing you don’t do is engage in a land war in Afghanistan? All right? Because everyone who’s tried, over a thousand years of history, has failed. And there are reasons for that. There are other ways […]
Hat tip reader 1Watt,Hermit Democratic Underground and New Deal 2.0. Testimony is public domain…here it is in entirety. Statement to the Commission on Deficit ReductionJames K. Galbraith, Lloyd M. Bentsen, jr., Chair in Government/BusinessRelations, Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, The University of Texas at AustinJune 30, 2010 Mr. Chairmen, members of the commission, […]
Unemployment rates across the G7 illustrate a broad-based labor recovery. Fantastic – now let’s get to the underlying stories. (Note: The US is the first to release the June 2010 figures. All other unemployment rates, except for the UK, are current as of May 2010.) Germany, France, and Italy: Germany’s labor market is ostensibly improving, […]
The employment report was bad, as private payroll employment only rose 83,000. Moreover, the household survey showed a drop in employment of -350,000. The unemployment rate fell. But that is because the – 350,000 fall in household survey was offset by a -652,000 drop in the labor force. A labor force contraction is really bad […]
by Stormylifted from an e-mail The difference between automation and outsourcing becomes stylistically blurred in this NYT’s piece: During the recession, domestic manufacturers appear to have accelerated the long-term move toward greater automation, laying off more of their lowest-skilled workers and replacing them with cheaper labor abroad. Since when is outsourcing a form of automation? […]
by Bruce WebbFollowing up on the publication of CBO’s Long Term Budget Outlook (see previous two of my posts) CBO yesterday published Social Security Policy Options (Summary for Web) and Social Security Policy Options (Full 51 pg PDF) scoring various revenue and spending cut measures that have been proposed for Social Security. The included Table […]
Robert Waldmann Atrios vs Bernanke. OK so I agreed with Atrios about Greenspan (just below). Now I disagree with him about Bernanke. He equates loans with gifts. He equates worse than optimal with worse than nothing (dealing with free market fanatics can cause one to overlook the difference). Bernanke could have sent money from the […]