I just couldn’t skip this one…disinhibition and odd “metaphor” combined: Lynn Parramour writes:   Thomas Ferguson and Robert Johnson of the Institute for New Economic Thinking, two economists who have tried to expose the problems in their field, remind us that even when you look at the evidence of recent reports of the trustees overseeing […]

From the New York Times According to the plaintiffs in the new case, the Supreme Court has not overruled a statutory precedent in an area in which Congress has been active since 1961, in a tax case. But lawyers for the defendants said the 1988 decision was entitled to “lessened precedential weight” because it was […]

Paul Krugman also comments on healthcare horror stories hooey: by Robert Waldmann More on Julia Boonstra Glenn Kessler noted that the latest ad presenting an alleged Obamacare victim doesn’t add up right. Koch funded “Americans for Prosperity” broadcast an advertizement in Michigan in which Julia Boonstra complained that her old insurance was cancelled due to […]

by Robert Waldmann What is the Opposite of a Weasel Word ? I need a metaphor and no one is answering at metaphor customer service. I need a nuancing partner for weasel word. A weasel word is a qualifier which makes a statement so weak it is unfalsifiable without making it sound like “I don’t […]

by Joseph Joyce Group Therapy Pop quiz:  which U.S. policymaker said last week: “We can’t solve everyone else’s problems anymore” in response to foreign criticism of U.S. handling of what issue? a—Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, responding to criticism by foreign central bankers of the Fed’s tapering of its asset purchases; b—Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, […]

Today at 11:00 a.m. (EST), join three contributors to the new Foreign Affairs ebook Iran and the Bomb 2: A New Hope—CFR Senior Fellow Elliott Abrams, Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Suzanne Maloney, and Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Vice President George Perkovich—for a discussion about the continuing negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 over Iran’s […]

by Joseph Joyce Been There, Done That     President Barak Obama has nominated Stanley Fischer to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve Board, where he will succeed Janet Yellen as Vice-Chair of the Board. Fisher’s accomplishments are well-known. But he also brings an interesting set of credentials to the Board at a time […]