by Bruce Webb In a variety of comments posts I have argued that the 1983 Social Security compromise was not intended specifically to prefund Boomer retirement using several pieces of evidence including this interview with the Executive Director of the Commission Robert Myers and Prefunding Social Security. Now as it turns out current projections indeed […]
by Bruce Webb A couple of commenters here have inquired about how Social Security would fare in a time of extended recession. And the really short answer is ‘not too badly, mostly it self-adjusts’. But the questions reveal a profound misunderstanding of the real nature of the Trust Funds and their relation to Social Security […]
Mark Thoma at Economist’s View links us to the following article from William Grieder at The Nation.Looting Social Security Governing elites in Washington and Wall Street have devised a fiendishly clever “grand bargain” they want President Obama to embrace in the name of “fiscal responsibility.” The government, they argue, having spent billions on bailing out […]
Talking Points Memo got ahold of a confidential summary of the Conference compromise Stimulus Conference Agreement Chart Long and detailed, only the wonks need apply. If I see something interesting I will update the post or put up a new one. Otherwise fell free to dive in.
by Bruce Webb Politicians tasked with convincing democratic majorities that they should oppose minimum wage increases generally fall back on the economic argument that such increases simply lead to job losses. Often they go on to point out that these losses fall disproportionately on the young, the unskilled, or minorities. Before examining whether this argument […]
by Bruce Webb In a previous post I made a stab at explaining the differences in Republican and Democratic responses to the economics of stimulus by an appeal to differences in world view. With limited success due I think to my not developing my major premise. Here I want to back up a little and […]
by Bruce Webb What do these three things have in common and what possible relevance do they have to the debate over the Stimulus Bill? The short answer is belief systems. Over at Krugman’s blog there was a certain amount of baffled debate over issues connected with the Treasury View. From the outside in these […]
McClatchy via their Planet Washington web page brings us a list of what actually got cut from the Senate bill. And the title pretty much tells the story (though I will be adding a few words later). What the Senate’s cut: Funds for states and schools Here’re the cuts, according to Sen. Leahy’s office. Based […]
What is infrastructure? Some people seem to have a working definition that limits to highways and bridges. Others would expand it to include anything built of concrete and steel. Well that is a little too narrow a view. Instead we should include pretty much all public capital goods in that definition. So in addition to […]
Up to now most of the numbers used in the Pick your Pork series have been drawn from the initial House version of the bill. But now the action has moved to the Senate and it is time to shift our ground in response. So lets develop some links. CBO Director’s Blog: Macroeconomic Effects of […]