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

Bill Black on the SOTU

There are many ways to view the State of the Union address, and perhaps each listener needs to assess how much importance to give to the issues offered for comment.  Most of us are not ‘one issue’ deal breaker sorts of people, but the impulse is strong for those issues we care about personally.  How […]

Thus Spake the Rube

For the hundredth time the foreign-born Muslim commie Nazi extends an olive branch across the aisle, and for the hundredth time it’s dashed to the floor, stomped on and set ablaze – along with the latest spokes-liars trousers.   It became a conflagration that the infamous water-stop could not staunch. Early in Marco Rubio’s alleged rebuttal […]

What Mindless Cliché-Driven Centrism From a High-Profile Pundit Looks Like, in Detail.

The State of the Union ritual is by now familiar to most Americans. President Obama leads the Democratic side of the chamber to a series of standing ovations for proposals that everybody knows won’t become law. Republicans show their seriousness of purpose by smirking or making stony faces — and by inviting as guests to […]

Let the Wars Start–only when we are willing to pay for them

by Linda Beale Let the Wars Start–only when we are willing to pay for them The op-ed page of the New York Times often has some thoughtful items worth reading.  Russell Rumbaugh’s A Tax to Pay for War, New York Times (Feb. 11, 2013), at A17 is one of them.  As Rumbaugh notes, the slight […]

This was the best State of the Union address in my memory.

I’m so surprised, and so happy.  There were three or four lines in there early on that I was so happy about, and just so surprised at, that they they brought tears to my eyes.  And that last few minutes of the speech–the part that segued from voting rights to gun violence issues and victims, […]

profits, cash on hand, debt, and aggregate demand

(Chart via Orcam Investment Research) http://pragcap.com/an-alternative-view-on-the-corporate-cash-hoard   let me say, however, that I think there’s a very good case that the redistribution of income away from labor to corporate profits is very likely a big factor.   http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/08/corporate-hoarding-and-the-slow-recovery/

The Inequality Gap

by Linda Beale The Inequality Gap Robert Reich, former labor secretary, has some worthwhile advice for the President’s State of the Union address:  he notes that the focus should be the “central issue you want the nation to help you take action on”.  That’s “not immigration, guns or the environment” (though “[a]ll are important”) but […]

Paul Krugman Steps on Marco Rubio’s Parade. And Kills My Entertainment.

Just a quick observation: for the past couple of days I’ve been seeing in a lot of places, including comments on this blog, the assertion that federal spending has risen 37 percent under Obama — that specific number. Does anyone know where it’s coming from? Because if I look at the actual data, I see […]

Carpe David Brooks. Before He Drives Me Crazy. [Freudian typo now corrected. 3:25 p.m.]

An exchange between reader nitu mishra and me in the Comments thread this morning to this AB post of mine from yesterday. nitu mishra: Here’s a good article on 2012 Q4 earnings outlook. http://tinyurl.com/investing002 Me: Ah. If only I could actually understand graphs, without having to stare at them for ten minutes or so first, […]