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

JS-kit

JS-kit has been doing weird things to comments the last few days…multiples of one post, disappear/reappear, listing 5 comments but showing only three etc.. Just so people know.

The trace elements of a nation

by Noni Mausa The trace elements of a nation from her blog Tunnel Under Snow A long discussion over on Angry Bear dealt with how economic choices, rational in the short term or in the service of one economic actor, can cumulatively cripple the societies in which these choices are made. Well worth hopping over […]

Estate Tax comparisons

by Linda Beale Friday Animations–Estate Taxcrossposted with Ataxingmatter[now updated to provide the animation feature–thanks to Steve Cook, at the Cook law firm, available here and Ataxingmatter] Well, not exactly an animation, but Estate tax attorney Douglas A. Cook has a chart on the Federal Estate Tax 2001-2011 (linked from the Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof […]

Why the Economy Stubbornly Insists on Growing More Slowly When Taxes are Lower

by Mike Kimel An Economic Theory That Uses Micro Forces to Explain Macro Outcomes: Why the Economy Stubbornly Insists on Growing More Slowly When Taxes are Lower Cross-posted at the Presimetrics blog. I’ve been writing for years about the fact that a basic piece of economic theory does not apply to real world US data: […]

Beyond tax cuts and stimulus

Marty Hart-Landsberg in Monthly Review states the issue of trade policy has a larger context than national economies. Reader juan adds his commentary to Marty Hart-Landsberg quotes (lifted from comments and slightly editied for readability): Most importantly, foreign capital now plays a leading role in the Chinese economy, especially in manufacturing.7 Its activity has transformed […]

The Opposite of Survivor

by Noni Mausa The Opposite of Survivor I hated the very idea of “Survivor” from the beginning, and happilyavoided seeing any more than a cumulative 30 minutes over the years ofSurvivor shows worldwide. Dropping people on desert islands isn’t the problem. It’s one of theoldest folk and literary stories around, full of danger and learningand […]

Trade policies, stimulus, and tax cuts

Both parties promise ‘economic growth’ in this debate as the way out of our troubles for unemployment and federal deficits. Left out of the discussion currently is the way to actually accomplish this growth in a way that delivers more specifically to voters other than some vague notion of trickle down from a ‘global free […]

Foreign exchange surpluses

Global trade in the slogans of politics and media means outsourcing at the moment, and currency disputes, but a global economy has implications many Americans have not experienced in any large and macro way, and suggests there are other implications to consider: Here are some key paragraphs from an article by Michael Hudson (Hat tip […]

Supply-side Economics: Tea Party Style

Our colleague PGL offers this take at Econospeak on the new deal this week: Supply-side Economics: Tea Party Style Andrew Leonard covers the opposition to the Obama-McConnell tax deal coming from Tea Party star Michele Bachman. I’m tempted to say that her comments make me feel 30 years younger (with the hesitation that this is […]