Mr. Krugman said yesterday that the economy is “awash in excess savings with nowhere to go”. If we are awash in excess savings, why do we borrow from foreigners? Let’s look at this equation to determine net borrowing from foreigners… Current Account deficit (net borrowing from abroad) is… (M – X) = (G – T) […]
In part #1 of this series on international flows, Norway’s trade deficit of the 1960’s was associated with foreign investment coming into their country. So the net trade deficit of the Current Account was matched by the net foreign investment surplus of the Capital and Financial Account. There is a principle in international income accounting… […]
We all make mistakes sometimes, but there is a lot of this in the news. Lifted from Robert’s Stochastic Thoughts: Dianne Barrette of Winter Haven Florida claims that instead of paying $54 a month for health insurance (no hospital coverage and a $ 50 deductible for office visits) she will have to pay $ 591 […]
by Linda Beale Carried Interest — a tax privilege for the rich whose end time has come I should have written about this long ago, but a recent “dealbook” by my former colleague Steven Davidoff, A Chance to End a Billion-Doillar Tax Break for Private Equity, New York Times (Oct. 23, 2013) reminded me of […]
The argument has been the ACA depends on a number of the young to sign up for healthcare insurance on the PPACA or at least this is what S.E. Cupp believes and suggested on This Week with George Stephanopoulis. “There’s two problems, one is the technological, sort of mechanics of this. Obamacare relies on Millennials, […]
by Linda Beale Deficit Disorder Symptoms–via Naked Capitalism/New Economic Perspectives Yves Smith over at Naked Capitalism has an insightful re-post today on the way the right in particular–and most in the media and public–talk about deficits and misunderstand the relative importance of failures to invest in physical and capital infrastructure (roads, education…) versus the relative […]
Is the US trade deficit a problem? Are we somehow incapable of competing in the international market? Is there anything good about being such a debtor nation to China? Is the US really losing jobs to other countries? These issues are heated. People are passionate about their views. Yet, it seems most people don’t understand […]
by Linda Beale Tax Filing Season Delay The IRS announced that the 16-day federal shutdown will cause a delay in the start of tax filing season by a week to two weeks. The exact date when returns will first be accepted, to be announced in December, was to have been January 21, but may now […]
Greg Mankiw had an interesting post today pointing out that bond returns calculated by the economist were incorrect. http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/ Mankiw wrote: Here is a question for students who are learning about compounding. What is wrong with the following passage from The Economist magazine? Investors who bought Treasury bonds in 1946, when yields were around current levels, […]