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

PGL and tax haven report

PGL at Econospeak notes: Darla Cameron and Jia Lynn Yang want to report on how US multinationals are shifting profits to foreign tax havens but their key statistic is the ratio of US tax expenses to worldwide profits: A Washington Post analysis of data compiled by Capital IQ found that in the late 1960s and […]

Robert’s musings for a Sunday afternoon

Lifted from Robert Waldmann’s Stochastic Thoughts for a Sunday afternoon: Christian Roots of School Voucher Movement Still Pretty Obvious …. those of us who are over the age of 40 and have three-digit IQs remember where this all started: with segregated Christian schools in the South who were denied tax-exempt status in the 70s. This […]

Health Care Thoughts: Obamacare Fail

by Tom aka Rusty Rustbelt Health Care Thoughts: Obamacare Fail When I mention problems with Obamacare implementation in the blogosphere, I am pummeled. Liberals think I am overly cynical, too focused on the practical, and I fail to understand the power of good intentions. Ok. The S.H.O.P. program for small businesses has been delayed until […]

These numbers don’t add up

by David Zetland, a series of posts highlighting major points over time. The paper must be downloaded to read.  Wageningen UR – Environmental Economics and Natural Resources Group; PERC – Property and Environment Research CenterEconomists Owe Ecology an ApologyMarch 9, 2013 Part 2 Nature Bats Last Pare 3  These numbers don’t add up These numbers […]

What is a water manager?

David Zetland  at Aguanomics asks a very basic question about our perceptions of what constitutes management: Question of the week I’m thinking that “water manager” is not the right title for people who work at drinking water utilities, irrigation districts, and other water organizations. That’s because they are not really supposed to manage water supply […]

Which battles to fight?

That final paragraph really gets to one of my obsessions: that the political left and the mainstream media focus so heavily on culture-wars issues–especially regarding the Supreme Court–that the corporatocracy and other rightwing non-culture-wars interests (states’ rights!) have been having an incredible run these past years in the courts, without most people even knowing it. […]

Three guesses on where chaining the CPI came from

It’s history lesson time again. An awful lot of talk and writing about the chained CPI has been focused on the results of its implementation on Social Security. Using this formula for figuring the cost of living ends up reducing the money citizens will receive in their SS checks. One of our commenters, Denis Drew […]

Guest Post: The Budget is Not an Appropriate Place to Try and Solve All the Country’s Problems

Tzimiskes  offers some thoughts on the budget process (hat tip Run75441, and re-posted with author’s permission) Tzimiskes has been blogging for more than 3 years on economics, politics, and public policy. He holds a Masters of Political Science from SUNY Albany, and worked in New York State government for four years before returning to the […]