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

Mukasy V US Constitution

Former attorney general Michael Mukasy said “”Whether you impeach somebody doesn’t depend on whether they violate the law,” Mukasey said. “”The president can stay within his lawful powers and still commit an impeachable offense. …” He totally rejects opposes and declares his contempt for the US Constition which says “The President, Vice President and all […]

Republicans say they killed the bill that would lower interest on existing student loans because it does nothing to cure cancer … er, it does nothing to lower college costs and therefore reduce borrowing. Or cure cancer.

Republicans said the bill wouldn’t have done anything to lower education costs or reduce borrowing, and they accused Democrats of playing politics by highlighting an issue that was bound to fail. — Senate Republicans block student loan bill, Erica Werner, Associated Press, today The bill, written and sponsored by Elizabeth Warren, would allowed borrowers, including those […]

Barry Ritholtz… Why are rates so low?… Look at Hong Kong

Barry Ritholtz has a post showing that rates are very low in many countries. He isn’t quite sure what is going on with such low yields on 10-year bonds, so he asks… “What is up with Yields?” Maybe we could say that there is lots of liquidity out there. Maybe we could say that there […]

Thoughts on Brad’s Thoughts on Economic Theology

Brad DeLong quotes Joseph Stiglitz and notes that Stiglitz disagrees with Keynes Stiglitz said a peculiar doctrine came to be accepted, the so-called “neoclassical synthesis.” It argued that once markets were restored to full employment, neoclassical principles would apply. The economy would be efficient. We should be clear: this was not a theorem but a […]

Interesting Virginia Primary Results Just Moments Ago

Novice Tea-bagger Representative candidate Dave Brat just handed Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor a defeat in the Virginia GOP primary. A $200,000 campaign fund challenging a 6-digit campaign fund. Apparently, Cantor was not backwards, conservative enough for the 7th District Tea-baggers. “‘There needs to be a change,’ said Joe Mullins, who voted in Chesterfield […]

Consumption, Real Interest Rates, and Habit Formation

Many macroeconomists use models of aggregate consumption based on utility maximization by a rational representative agent. Some models also include liquidity constrained or rule of thumb consumers, but all micro founded models include inter-temporal substitution subject to a lifetime budget constraint. It is also standard to assume that utility is additively separable in consumption and […]

Managing the revenue from natural resources—what’s a Finance Minister to do?

 Via the IMF comes this interesting note: Managing the revenue from natural resources—what’s a Finance Minister to do? By Sanjeev Gupta and Enrique Flores The Finance Minister answers her mobile. On the line is the Minister of Energy, who informs her that the country has struck oil and that he expects revenues from its sale […]

How long can the global economy keep on growing if the 6th Great Extinction Event is upon us?

The Real News Network interviewed 2 scientists about a new study on current extinction rates. The scientists interviewed are Dr. Terry Root & Dr. Stuart L. Pimm. The study shows that extinctions are occurring much faster than previously thought and that within 100 years, one third to one half of all species could be extinct. […]