The current consensus is that Berlusconi is toast, or, as Krugman would say, Crostini. It is a bit risky to change horses in mid crisis and change Prime ministers in mid stream, but Berlusconi is a large part of the reason no one trusts Italy. Also everyone is totally sick of him especially his closest […]

Republican Rep. Joe Walsh was the only Illinois congressman to be named a “True Blue” member of Congress for “unwavering support of the family” by the Family Research Council Action committee Thursday. Walsh’s ex-wife says Walsh owes more than $100,000 in back child support for their three children. emphasis mine. Uh couldn’t they have thought […]

This is a 16 minute * lecture by Richard Wilkinson. It is posted at TED. I am posting it here, as I can not believe this information has not received more attention now that the US is awakening from the decades long delusion of prosperity which did not and as shown in the lecture could […]

Think Progress points us to …the Credit Union National Association (CUNA) reports that a whopping 650,000 Americans have joined credit unions since Sept. 29 — the date that Bank of America announced it would start charging a $5 monthly debit fee, a move it backed down on this week. To put that in perspective, there […]

Italy is more fubar than you imagine possible even taking into account the fact that it is more fubar than you imagine possible. That said, I insist the we are solvent (I am really really and that Italian long term treasuries (BTPs) are a great buy right now. Please. We need the money. But I […]

by Linda Beale the right’s smoke & mirrors scams about corporate tax “reform” One could get a pretty gloomy picture of the state of Social Security, and the need to “reduce entitlements” while at the same time hearing about the (faked) urgency of cutting corporate taxes in order to give our US multinationals an edge […]

The employment report showed little evidence that the trends of the past year have changed.Over the past three months private payroll employment grew some 72,000, 191,000 and 104,000while government employment fell 132,000, 33,000 and 24,000. The one encouraging signs was the third strong month of employment growth reported in the household survey. Over the last […]

By Rebecca Wilder Worries About Italy: Growth and Politics< Current bond market pricing implies a 6.17% yield on a 10-yr Italian government bond, or 430 basis points (%/100) over a like German government bond. I’d call this distressed levels for Italian debt, especially for an economy that is very likely contracting as we speak. Today […]

by Mike Kimel The Kimel Curve and the Kitchen Sink, Part 2: The Reagan Era to the Present I often post about the relationship between the top marginal tax rate and economic growth, which I’ve noted can be described this way: % change in real GDP from t to t+1 = a + b*Top Marginal […]