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

REAL GDP

With the downward revision of second quarter real GDP growth from a 2.4% growth rate reported in the advance report to 1.6% reported in the first revision, real GDP in the first year of recovery now appears to be 3%. As was originally reported this is still stronger than the first year of recovery in […]

Saul Alinsky vol II Rules for Republicans

Robert Waldmann Saul Alinsky sure has a lot of followers. Obama is a fan. Hillary Clinton wrote her senior thesis about Alinsky. However the people who follow him to the letter are Republican’s who want to privatize social security. Rule 13 (slightly edited) 13. Pick the target … personalize it,… The latest follower of Alinsky […]

Housing Bubble ?

Robert Waldmann Andrew Harless argues that there was no housing bubble ?!? Apparently it is now generally accepted that the rise in house prices was an aberrant bubble, justified only in the minds of irrational buyers who ignored the fundamentals and expected house prices to keep rising simply because they were already rising. But what […]

Credit card delinquencies and balances fall 2Q

Transunion reports: TransUnion’s quarterly analysis of trends in the credit card industry revealed that the national credit card delinquency rate (the ratio of bankcard borrowers 90 days or more delinquent on one or more of their credit cards) decreased to 0.92 percent in the second quarter of 2010, down 17.1 percent over the previous quarter. […]

Dealing with the Sunset of the Bush Tax Cuts (Part IV in a series)–the Tax Relief Coalition

by Linda Bealecrossposted with Ataxingmatter Dealing with the Sunset of the Bush Tax Cuts (Part IV in a series)–the Tax Relief Coalition The Tax Relief Coalition–another of the myriad anti-tax groups comprised of Grover Norquist’s group and those of similar ideology–is at it again with a letter to Congress (available on BNA) urging the passage […]

Alan Simpson on Social Security

I have no words for this e-mail to OWL by Alan Simpson on Social Security: I’ve made some plenty smart cracks about people on Social Security who milk it to the last degree. You know ‘em too. It’s the same with any system in America. We’ve reached a point now where it’s like a milk […]

Licensing fees and taxes for bloggers

Hat tip r.j.sigmund for finding this leading to the Philadelphia City Paper: Philadelphia Demands License Fee and Taxes from Bloggers Philadelphia bloggers were dispatched letters informing them that they owe $300 for a [lifetime] privilege license [or $50 per year for an annual license], plus taxes on any profits they made. Even if, as with […]