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

Hey, Alison Grimes, why not mention THIS? Ah … because it would require a sentence or two of substantive explanation.

Given the exceedingly favorable atmosphere for Republicans this fall, McConnell’s direction on Obamacare has been closely watched as he both battles for reelection against Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes and as the GOP prepares for Senate control for the first time since 2006. McConnell’s office said there are multiple avenues that a GOP Senate would have […]

Neither John Kasich nor, certainly, Simon Peter will be nominated by the Republicans

Republicans remain almost united in their utter rejection of the communist doctrines of one Simon Peter fisherman and trouble maker. Elizabeth Stoker Bruenig explains in Salon I comment I don’t want to exaggerate. It is certainly not true that Kasich’s proposed policy is from “each according to his ability” and “to each as anyone had […]

PART TIME EMPLOYMENT

The opponents of Obama-care just will not give up. Just because all of their claims of disaster over the last few years have been proven wrong they continue to repeat every claims that they think does not make them look foolish. The latest example is John R. Graham of the Independent Institute who claims that […]

How to deal with the growing incentives competition

This article was originally published in the Columbia FDI Perspectives series of the Columbia Center for Sustainable Investment, #131, September 29. I have left it largely unchanged, except for adding a link and a comment, and correcting a grammatical error.   As I discussed in an earlier Perspective,[1] the use of investment incentives is pervasive […]

Cleveland Plain Dullards

You’d think that, by now, people would understand that, once it is on the web, there is no point locking the barn door after the cat has gotten out of the bag. This is today’s hot meme The Cleveland Plain Dealer filmed (and posted) a joint interview with current (and likely re-elected) governor John Kasich […]

Scott Brown Solves the Mystery of What All Those Mega-Corporations Are Doing With Their Record Profits

They’re spending it on lawyers! I’m not kidding.  Brown told a 27-year-old Fidelity Investments retirement specialist that big corporations can’t afford to hire people because they’re spending so much money on lawyers.  Which they have to do because of all those regulations.  Which is why he wants to “loosen regulations on big companies”: “So they […]

How Do Households Build Wealth? Probably Not the Way You Think. Three Graphs

Work hard. Save your money. Spend less than you earn. That’s how you become wealthy, right? That’s not totally wrong, but if you think that’s the whole story — or even a large part of the story — you may be surprised by this graph: (Note: these are not realized capital gains, which really only matter for tax […]