Bill Gardner at The Incidental Economist offers a rather decorous, mild reply to the people making [the argument that guaranteed health insurance is an assault on America’s freedom]. I’d put it more forcefully: the pre-ACA system drastically restricted many people’s freedom, because given the extreme dysfunctionality of the individual insurance market, they didn’t dare leave […]
Krugman: If you don’t like the mandate, why not support single payer?
The Lump-of-Capital Fallacy
Dean Baker gives me the courage, in his recent post on Pikkety, to reiterate a statement I’ve made some few times in the past: Economists have no coherent or consistent idea of what they’re talking about when they use the word “capital.” They lump together real capital — fixed, human, organizational, whatever — with “financial capital,” […]
Modeling the Fisher Effect with System Dynamics
Been busy building a model to show the Fisher Effect. The model uses System Dynamics, which takes interrelated variables through a time simulation. The model is described in the video above. The main point is that the path of inflation described by the model matches the path of CPI (less food and energy) since […]
“Sit In The Back of The Bus, I want this Seat”
I grew up in the city of Chicago in the fifties and sixties. When I was going into the military, I saw the west side of Chicago burning as I returned my then girl friend back to her home. It is still hard to believe this type of discrimination would happen today as it happened […]
Thom Tillis vs. Sam Walton and Ray Kroc
From an interview of North Carolina Republican Senate Candidate Thom Tillis by NBC’s Chuck Todd today: Todd: Do you think [the minimum wage] should be raised in North Carolina? Tillis: I think that’s a decision that the legislature needs to make with businesses. Todd: Well, you’re the speaker. Would you make that decision? Tillis: Right now what […]
Dealing with drought — three ways to fail
David Zetland at Aguanomics writes a note on California’s drought and policies on water use and distribution…price is key. Dealing with drought — three ways to fail BB sent this summary of UC Davis’s “Living with Drought” conference (I got my PhD there), and this bit got my attention: Everyone seemed to agree that solutions […]
Americans Raid 401(k)s
Angry Bear has carried posts on this issue over the years. 1. 2008 and draining the 401k pool of money, 2. Draining 401ks, 3. 401k and Social Security, 4.. Kenneth Thomas and retirements money (Links), 5. A 1000/mo pension equals 300,000 in savings among others. Yves Smith at Naked Capitalism makes an impassioned statement. (Re-posted with permission) Americans Raid 401(k)s, Replacing […]
Statistics and schools
Diane Ravitch in the NYT comments on the politician use of statistics to promote an educational policy and program. Of course there are several private figures promoting charter schools and pilot programs as well, and a well funded lobby for such. I usually start with assuming it is a pitch…but not all records are public […]
The Hill – “GOP struggles to land punches at ObamaCare insurance hearing”
HT :Washinton Monthly, Ed Gilgore: “House GOPers Face to Face With Unfriendly Facts on Obamacare” Democratic lawmakers were emboldened to defend the Affordable Care Act with renewed vigor and levity, creating a dynamic rarely seen in the debate over ObamaCare. Adding to the irregularity, exits on the Republican side at a subcommittee hearing led by […]