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

Buffett Rule rejected by Senate

by Linda Beale Buffett Rule rejected by Senate The Senate rejected the effort to make tax policy commensurate with the slogans about American values that we parrot freely–opportunity, paying fair shares, etc. Given the now rigid “phantom” filibuster rule requiring a supermajority to pass anything in the Senate, the Republicans –especially if joined by a […]

More on DSGE Forecasting

Mark Thoma quotesForecasting the Great Recession: DSGE vs. Blue Chip, by Marco Del Negro, Daniel Herbst, and Frank Schorfheide, Liberty Street: Coincidentally commenter Luis Enrique asked me what I thought of that paper on Gmail. this is commentator Luis Enrique [skip] I am enjoying your to and fro with Simon WL anyway, I just wanted to send […]

Mike Kimel at Angry Bear has several nice posts on the "Laffer Curve"

by Kenneth Thomas(reposted from Middle Class Economist)  Mike Kimel at Angry Bear has several nice posts on the “Laffer Curve” that underlies much of conservative economic orthodoxy in this country. As you may know, Art Laffer famously claimed that at tax rates of 0 and 100%, you would get zero tax revenue, and that in […]

Estimated returns from the MLR (administrative costs to medical costs)

Bruce Webb on Angry Bear was among the first of bloggers to point out that this aspect of the Medical Loss Ratio begins in 2009 and  here and points again to the MLR as it comes into play. A non-profit group estimates if the Affordable Care Act provisions had been effect in 2010, U.S consumers would […]

Romney Let’s Mask Slip

Garrett Haake reports Via TPM PALM BEACH, FL — Mitt Romney went well beyond his standard stump speech at a closed-door fundraiser on Sunday evening, and offered some of the most specific details to date about the policies he would pursue if elected. In a speech to donors in the backyard of a private home […]

El-Erian on the Fed, Money Market Funds and Traders Puzzles me

I don’t understand what Mohammad El-Erian is saying here. I do entirely sympathise with this a professor …advised me that, in order to maximize the probability of success, I should … Make sure to cover issues where I know more than those who will be evaluating my work; and, in putting everything together, make sure […]

American Enterprise Institute Economists Redux

by Mike Kimel American Enterprise Institute Economists Redux The other day I wrote a post about economists at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), a prominent conservative think-tank. The post began with this paragraph from a story in the NY Times Politicians sometimes say that lower tax rates lead to higher economic growth, which in turn […]

Guest post: U.S. has 18th best unemployment benefits in OECD

Guest post by Kenneth Thomas of Middle Class Political Economist U.S. has 18th best unemployment benefits in OECD; also trails 13 non-OECD countries Tim Vlandas at EU Welfare States flags some important recent International Monetary Fund data on the generosity of a number of countries’ unemployment benefits. The metric used is the gross replacement rate […]