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

U.S. Civil War 150 years ago

Events 150 years ago should be remembered in 2011. A large re-enactment of scenes of the battle is planned for Gettysburg 1-3 July 2013. There were many event leading up to, and following, the greatest battle fought in the Western Hemisphere and they also should be commemorated. “11 Mar in 1861 is significant; it is […]

Nominations are due by Friday, March 11, 2011.

2011 Hayek Book Prize Nomination Form The Manhattan Institute is currently gathering nominations for our Hayek Prize, which will honor the book published within the past two years that best reflects F.A. Hayek’s vision of economic and individual liberty. The winner of the Hayek Prize will be given a $50,000 cash award and asked to […]

Q4 2010 Flow of Funds: Household leverage down, wealth effect dead, and equities surge

The Federal Reserve released the Q4 2010 Flow of Funds Accounts for the US. On the household balance sheet, net worth (total assets minus total liabilities) was estimated at $56.8 trillion, which is up $2.1 trillion over the quarter. Notably, household net worth has increased $6.4 trillion since the recession’s end (Q2 2009). Moreover, personal […]

Initial Claims for Unemployment Insurance and the Trade Deficit Both Increase

Mark Thoma at Maximum Utility has conclusions on the figures for creation of jobs and trend in trade deficits: (reposted with permission of the author) Figures on the trade balance and new claims for unemployment insurance are out this morning, and the news isn’t as good as hoped. First, initial claims increased: In the week […]

Wisconsin Senate Passes Bill Ending Public Bargaining Rights

Wisconsin Senate Passes Bill Ending Public Bargaining Rights by Yves Smith at Naked Capitalism writes on this evening’s news on Wisconsin political conflicts. Reposted. After claiming repeatedly in the media that the fight to end public worker bargaining rights was all about the budget, Governor Walker stripped the collective bargaining provisions out of the budget […]

Still fixing the fixed, fixed healthcare system

by Daniel Becker I posted in 7/2009 on the issue of fixing our healthcare system based on the Massachusetts model. The first was Massachusetts is fixing the fixed healthcare system.   The second was a followup to the first:  Fixing the fixing. Healthcare Deja vu. The issue was that we are dancing around. All the proposals […]