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

Guest Post: Rationality of Banks

Note: This post originally appeared, in slightly different form, at the author’s personal blog, Diogenes of Brooklyn. It appears here with that blogger’s kind permission. He does talk in the third person sometimes. by Diogenes of Brooklyn Like most Americans, Diogenes knows nothing of economics and finance. But quite a lot about the ways that […]

Republicans Want to Repeal Resolution Authority

Mark Thoma points us to Republicans Want to Repeal Resolution Authority the House Republicans on the Financial Services Committee just voted to repeal “resolution authority.” Let’s review the history. When the crisis hit, the government bailed out many financial firms — shadow banks as they are known. That’s not what it does when an ordinary […]

Guest post: Social Security Hurt by Republican Jobs Obstructionism

Guest post by Kenneth Thomas  Social Security Hurt by Republican Jobs Obstructionism The Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) published its commentary on Monday’s release of the Social Security Trustees Report, which found that the Social Security trust fund would be exhausted in 2033. CEPR rightly blames the recession for the deterioration of Social […]

Reform that "high" statutory corporate tax rate? Not necessary

by Linda Beale Reform that “high” statutory corporate tax rate? Not necessary I got an interesting item pushed to me from an online-MBA website blog where today’s item was on “10 Big Businesses That Barely Pay Taxes“. It looks at companies like GE, duPont, Verizon, ExxonMobil, FedEx, Boeing, Google and others that aggressively maximize the […]

SAVING SOCIAL SECURITY SIMPLIFIED

by Dale Coberly SAVING SOCIAL SECURITY SIMPLIFIEDThe Trustees Report came out again this week. And all the newspeople told us again that we are doomed. Doomed. “Social Security is running out of money!” Except it isn’t. And all the Professional Defenders of Social Security rushed out to tell us, “We can save Social Security: just […]

A credible backstory?

by Mike KimelToday is a travel day for me. I’m flying to Toronto to give a lecture on ensemble methods, a statistical approach which involves combining estimates produced by other methods. Its something I first worked on in 2001, and come to think about it, perhaps it deserves a post. But not today. Today’s post, […]

Cross-conflicting regulations, employer confusion

by Tom aka Rusty Rustbelt Health care thoughts: Cross-conflicting regulations, employer confusion Most of you will be familiar with the medication drowsiness warnings to the effect of “don’t operate machinery or heavy equipment, etc. etc.” This is from FDA regs. (www.FDA.gov.) OSHA has extensive guidance about employee safety with manufacturing machinery, heavy equipment and driving […]

Common Cause Claims ALEC Violated Tax Exempt Lobbying Restrictions

by Linda Beale  Common Cause Claims ALEC Violated Tax Exempt Lobbying Restrictions  The Common Cause organization filed a complaint with the IRS under 26 USC 7623, the tax whistleblower act,  alleging that the American Legislative Exchange Council violated the lobbying restrictions applicable to tax exempt organizations through underreporting and operating in furtherance of private corporate […]