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

INTELLIGENCE SQUARED DEBATE OFFERS LITTLE IN THE WAY OF ACTUAL INTELLIGENCE2

by Dale Coberly INTELLIGENCE SQUARED DEBATE OFFERS LITTLE IN THE WAY OF ACTUAL INTELLIGENCE I am reading a short article on the Intelligence Squared debate I previously referred to in Social Security For the Young. It turns out they were more concerned with “insurance” than with Social Security. But they don’t seem to understand the […]

Repatriation Tax Holiday–WIN America is pushing hard…

by Linda Beale Repatriation Tax Holiday–WIN America is pushing hard… I get a press release a day from WIN America, the coalition of almost two dozen multinationals and about two dozen business organizations (like the Chamber of Commerce) that is pushing for another big “repatriation holiday” tax cut for the multinationals. Now they’re touting the […]

About That, er, Monetary Expansion…

Brad DeLong has a spat with Scott Sumner: The IS-LM model led economic historians to argue money was easy in 1929-30, because rates fell sharply. It led modern Keynesians to assume that money was easy in 2008, because rates fell sharply… Well, I would say that not just “modern Keynesians” but a lot of people […]

Health Care Thoughts: Institute of Medicine recommendations

by Tom aka Rusty Rustbelt Health Care Thoughts: Institute of Medicine recommendations The Institute of Medicine (IOM) an influential organization long known for criticizing health care providers and advocating reform, has issued process recommendations for deciding the “essentials” of health insurance plans. An essentials list is required by DHHS by 2014 for all health plans […]

OccupyWallSt. should "have demands" and "be on the lawn of the Whitehouse"

OccupyWallSt. should “have demands” and “be on the lawn of the Whitehouse” Yves Smith at Naked Capitalism describes misgivings for policy prescriptions (demands) becoming central to the OccupyWallSt. movement at this time. Co-option of the energy and emotion of people taking the time to be involved is a real danger and cautions not to cave […]

More on Occupy Wall Street–Stiglitz and Madrick add their voices

by Linda Beale More on Occupy Wall Street–Stiglitz and Madrick add their voices Jim Swan, the Not-an-economist blogger who writes about “economics and the economy in the wake of the financial crisis”, is definitely a supporter of the Occupy Wall Street protest movement. In an earlier post, I noted the addition of labor concerns to […]

Policymic debate is happening on increasing taxes for the rich

I want to pass this forum and debate along at Policymic to readers. There are a number of excellent people in the comments section as well. There’s a great debate happening now between libertarian Harvard Professor Jeff Miron and Center for American Progress tax specialist Michael Linden on the hot topic of whether we should […]