Sorry for such thin postings lately but life happens. Hat tip to stormy for this reminder of a trade agreement not making the news. Use TPP in search to see other postings from Kenneth Thomas and Dan Becker: Via Truthout comes this item So far, the TPP has been drafted with an unprecedented degree of […]
Even Forbes’ columnist Avik Roy is recanting. Earlier this month he acknowledged that under Obamacare, many Americans who buy their own coverage in 2014 will find that insurance is significantly more affordable than it was in the past: “Three states will see meaningful declines in rates: Colorado (34 percent), Ohio (30 percent), and New York […]
A non-blogging friend points me to this new article at Forbes by Chris Conover purporting to show that the “typical family of 4” will see its health care spending rise by $7450. He quotes the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), saying “in its first ten years, Obamacare will boost health spending by ‘roughly […]
I have gone a bit quiet on the QE front. Obviously, this is because I have been surprised and my pet theory has taken a beating. The theory was that QE amounts to basically nothing much. The dramatic effects on asset prices due to Abe/Kuroda announcements in Japan were seriousy damaging. But now not all […]
William Dudley is the President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. He gave a speech about the economic outlook. The speech is standard talk about economic improvement that is not good enough yet. He states that demand is a constraint on the economy. “Turning first to consumer spending, such spending has […]
A question has been nagging me. First, does the rest of the world not get that the republicans are playing a game with the US’ bank account? Does anyone really believe that the US won’t pay as in the renter just skipped out the back door? Or maybe I should say; as in the capital […]
Barry Ritholz writes in his column in the Washington Post: To many people, the 2008-09 financial crisis was a complex, fast- moving news story and an anagram-laden, horrifying collapse. Such events often give rise to false histories, myths and ideologically driven narratives. It is vitally important that we understand what really happened. Let’s put to rest some […]
by Dale Coberly SOCIAL SECURITY AND INNUMERACY MATH HELP FOR K*ASTINGS In the open thread section last night constant reader B*uce K*asting reported: “CBO changed some variables, the result was an increase in the unfunded numbers. In 2012 CBO concluded that the shortfall was 1.9% of payrolls. In 2013 they increased that to 3.4% – […]
In response to my e-mail on an Oct. 8th decision on McCutchen vs Federal Election Commission by the Supreme Court that could expand the role of money in elections, Beverly Mann writes: … the argument in McCutchen is that it makes no sense to have this artificial divide between “issue” advocacy and candidate advocacy—that is, to […]