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

When You Don’t Spend Any, the Velocity of Money becomes Zero

Edmoney is tracking the allocation and spending of education-related stimulus grants. The map is here. Some states have gotten the funds into circulation better than others. Selected states below (GA was highlighted by them): California, 78% New Jersey, 63% Georgia, 62% Indiana, 60% Oklahoma, 50% Mississippi, 42% Massachusetts, 41% Michigan, 41% Kentucky, 39% Pennsylvania, 35% […]

Dealing with the Sunset of the Bush Tax Cuts (Part V in a series)–dividends at capital gains rate

by Linda Bealecrossposted with Ataxingmatter Dealing with the Sunset of the Bush Tax Cuts (Part V in a series)–dividends at capital gains rate IN this series, i’ve been discussing the merits of enacting a new series of tax cuts that mimic, at least in part, the Bush temporary tax cut legislation that expires at the […]

Trade in the national accounts

I though a little different perspective on the impact of trade on the real GDP accounts might be interesting. The first chart is of imports market share, or imports as a share of what we purchase in the US. In the second quarter of this year imports market share rebounded to about where it was […]

Central Banks can target short term interest rates no matter what

Robert Waldmann Paul Krugman asks a rhetorical question which I dare to answer. He is still considering Kocherlakota’s argument that low interest rates imposed by the monetary authority must cause deflation. “First of all, if inflation isn’t sticky, how is it that the Fed can set short-term interest rates at all?” Second of all, there […]

Employment During Recoveries from Recessions – Long Term Trends

by Mike KimelCross posted at the Presimetrics blog Employment During Recoveries from Recessions – Long Term Trends The following graph of the employment to population ratio was obtained from the Federal Reserve Economic Database (FRED). The employment to population ratio shows the percentage of American civilians age 16 and over that happen to be employed. […]

Offshore Banking Secrecy–more on the UBS case

by Linda Bealecrossposted with Ataxingmatter Offshore Banking Secrecy–more on the UBS case The IRS announced today that the Swiss government has completed its processing of the 4450 UBS accounts of U.S. taxpayers that were the subject of the August 2009 agreement for deferred prosecution of UBS and ending of the John Doe summons request. The […]

Koch Bros. connections

I don’t see mentioned how much money is given to each organization nor how that fits into each organization’s overall funding sources, but the big names in think tanks and such are well connected. By Muckety.com

Infrastructure and Human Capital Interlude

Busy week, so just a couple of things of note. Via Dr. Black, my old neighborhood gets a chance to build a better future: “It’s a great partnership among a number of researchers from academia, the private sector and national laboratories. It’s a great collaboration for a solid project that will help the environment,” said […]