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

Pressure to lower prices…

Across the Curve has a post about pressure to lower prices… The culprit is the weakness of labor’s income to bolster prices. So now many companies are maneuvering to do whatever to cut prices. The last half of 2013 made this clear. Yet, some companies are not going to be successful at this game. These […]

Guest post: Desperate Times, Desperate Measures

by Joseph P. Joyce (is a Professor of Economics at Wellesley College and the Faculty Director of the Madeleine Korbel Albright Institute for Global Affairs ) Desperate Times, Desperate Measures The selloff of emerging market currencies and equities continued last week. A Bank of America report noted that investors withdrew $6.4 billion last week from emerging market stock funds, while bond investors […]

Letter: Smart Capitalists and Patriotic Millionaires Say Hike the Minimum Wage

The Agenda Project (which is behind Patriotic Millionaires, Top Wonks, and other progressive initiatives) is preparing an open letter supporting an increase in the minimum wage. They’re looking for more signatories. SMART CAPITALISTS FOR AMERICAN PROSPERITY Dear Mr. President and Honorable Members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, We are writing to ask you […]

What the Associated Press Should Have Added to Press Releases About Scalia’s and Alito’s Current Warm-Weather Junkets

Here are the press releases dutifully passed along by the Associated Press: HONOLULU (AP) – U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia will be teaching a class at the University of Hawaii law school. The university says Scalia’s guest lecture Monday at the William S. Richardson School of Law will be followed by brief remarks […]

Is it wise to expect continued output growth when most consumption was increased by high incomes?

There was an insightful article by Nelson Schwartz in the New York Times on how the hollowing out of the middle class is affecting business. He brought up some great points… “The post-recession reality is that the customer base for businesses that appeal to the middle class is shrinking as the top tier pulls even […]

Does Upward Redistribution Cause Secular Stagnation?

A while back I built a  model to look at the long-term economic effects of upward and downward redistribution. Posts here and here. Commenter JGF pointed out an error in the model. I’ve revised and corrected it. The spreadsheet’s here. The model is based on marginal propensities to spend out of wealth and income. Poor people […]

Time to end redistribution upwards: minimum wage increases would boost economy and lift all boats

by Linda Beale Time to end redistribution upwards: minimum wage increases would boost economy and lift all boats. No matter how much the business lobby complains about the “business costs” of increasing the minimum wage, legislators should look past that self-serving ideology and look at reality.  Workers have contributed to increased productivity but received a […]

Note to Christie: Sleights of Hand Work Only If They Go Unnoticed.

Chris Christie’s political success in New Jersey was based on the perception that his personal style — which involved lots of yelling at people — was a sign of his governing effectiveness. This perception may have flourished most easily in a state whose informal motto is “You got a problem with that?” But what some […]