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

Hey, Big Spenders… (Status Report on Presimetrics)

by Mike Kimel Update: Rdan here Take the quiz now…hey big spenders Status Report on Presimetrics The Intelligence Report column in Parade Magazine, the newspaper that appears in Sunday newspapers across the country, wrote a short quiz based on Presimetrics. It will appear in this Sunday’s issue. Michael Kanell and I will log in to […]

Public Works on a Vast Scale?

I spent the last hours of last night watching the PBS “Human Experience” episode on the Civilian Conservation Corps. A few million people put to work: for long hours, living in Army barracks, with all but $5 of their pay having to be sent home every week. Gosh, sounds just right as part of FDR’s […]

Smart Philosophy Major Snowed by Rustbelt Governor

Robert Waldmann Matthew Yglesias has a new argument for encouraging exports of manufactures. I am not at all convinced. He seems to be asserting that employment in wholesaling and transportation follows production not sales and so is increased by manufacturing for export. I really doubt that. Yglesias wrote (click to see his graph). I saw […]

2010 Social Security Report: Surprising Drop in 75 yr Actuarial Gap

by Bruce Webb Well surprising to me anyway. The 2009 Social Security Report projected a 75 year actuarial gap for combined OASDI of 2.00%. Between the structural change involved in changing the valuation period (as 2009 drops off and a new year 75 is added) and the current recession cutting into revenues I fully expected […]

Virginia opposition given standing in federal district court

by Linda BealeExcerpt from Ataxingmatter The post in its entirety can be found at Linda’s Ataxingmatter Health Care Reform: the Virginia opposition given standing in federal district court: The judge states that the “central issue” in the case is Virginia’s interest in upholding it’s “health care freedom act”–a declaration that Viriginia citizens do not have […]

And the full Medicare Report

Bruce Webb h/t for the link Full Medicare Report (and here it is for your enjoyment). Ken Houghton h/t who linked to a Reuters note: Reuters: The Medicare hospital trust fund is not projected to exhaust its funds until 2029, 12 years later than forecast last year, the trustees said…

Let the (Social Security) Games Begin! 2010 Report Released

by Bruce Webb Hot off the press. PDF of the 2010 Social Security Report: http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/TR/2010/tr10.pdf News Release: http://www.ssa.gov/pressoffice/pr/trustee10-pr-alt.pdf HTML version: Social Security Board of Trustees: Long-Range Financing Outlook Remains Unchanged Boy that title blew me away, as did the initial numbers: The Social Security Board of Trustees today released its annual report on the financial […]

In Bed With the U.S. Army

Ann Jones: In Bed With the U.S. Army TomDispatch regular Ann Jones approaches Afghanistan and the American war effort from quite a different perspective. She’s proven a rarity in the way she’s reported back to us in these years. She arrived in Kabul in 2002, in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, to work with […]