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

Krugman Monetary Policy and Models

Paul Krugman recently wrote two blog posts on monetary policy in a liquidity trap. In “Timid Analysis” Krugman presents a model in which Nash favors the bold But a necessary (not sufficient) condition for this to work is that the promised inflation be high enough that it will indeed produce an economic boom if people […]

Real wage stagnation, year 41

Remember the Economic Report of the President? Of course you do. It’s where we get our annual data on real wages (and apparently some other stuff, too). The 2014 edition was released on March 10. As you may recall, I made my first post on the declining real wage trend through 2011 and was literally […]

Generic brands and markets

This quote at Dailykos caught my attention on trends for the generic drugs markets: For years, doxycycline has been a valuable drug for physicians who treat the indigent — unemployed or underemployed folks without insurance. A staple of $4 drug lists, it can be used to treat everything from bronchitis to “walking” pneumonia to urinary […]

Trade agreements, to what purposes?

Via Naked Capitalism reminds us of several thing about the current round of trade agreements, which would increase the ability of international corporations to sue governments both local and national for ‘loss of profits’. As the Obama administration negotiates new trade agreements with European and Pacific nations, a battle has emerged over the agreements’ egregious […]

Americans Woke Up and Realized They are Getting Screwed. Envy Isn’t the Emotion They’re Expressing

by J Tizimeskes  (who is currently juggling a job in the private sector while studying for a Wayne State MBA, getting a blog post or two in when he can. Previously, he worked for New York State and holds a Masters in Political Science from University at Albany and a biology degree from University of […]

Try Something Different, Dems. Like Actual Defense of the ACA. There’s Nothing to Lose But Loss Itself. Really.

Reader Alex Bollinger posted this this morning in the Comments thread to this post of mine from yesterday: Not only would low-info voters benefit from actually knowing that the ACA is doing good, but a few lefties could use a reminder that it’s not just a neoliberal gift to the insurance industry. I responded: Yes, Alex. […]