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

Popularity, influence, and econoblogs…top 21 includes AB

Angry Bear made it to 21st on the list in popularity and influence this time around (I counted). I don’t really know how they determine this in detail, but next time Mrs. Rdan asks why I spend a lot of time blogging, I’ll use it. From Onalytica Indexes: ALTERNATIVE ECONOMIC INDICATORS A small number of […]

US to be leading producer of oil?? What does that mean?

Lifted from a note on energy from Reader rjs comes a link filled narrative on oil and production issues for oil.  He deals with one aspect of drilling for “energy independence”. From reader rjs: Saudi America? The release of this year’s edition of the World Energy Outlook from the IEA (International Energy Agency) received quite a bit […]

The Media’s Role in Driving the "Fiscal Cliff" Imagery

by Linda Beale The Media’s Role in Driving the “Fiscal Cliff” Imagery The mainstream media has been fed a steady diet of releases from interested parties (like right-leaning propaganda tanks) about the need to adopt austerity measures, often cast as needing to save the country from out-of-control spending and unprecedented deficits and debt. At the […]

Systematic document forgery and fabrication

Yves Smith at continues to point us in the direction of property ownership and the fallout from the widespread disregard of law in establishing title to property in her post Systematic document forgery and fabrication at Naked Capitalism: The Department of Justice and the state of Missouri have each announced criminal plea bargains with one […]

1/24/12 Links worth noting: Germany rejects Swiss banking secrecy deal; Labor Devaluation

1/24/12  Links worth noting by Linda Beale: Germany rejects Swiss banking secrecy deal;   Labor Devaluation  David Jolly, German Lawmakers Reject Swiss Tax Deal, New York Times (Nov. 23, 2012).The US and other countries like Germany have been pressing the Swiss on their bank secrecy, which allows U.S. and other foreign citizens to establish bank accounts without […]

Bill McBride, Krugman, and Business Insider

Congratulations Bill. Joe Weisenthal at Business Insider offers some hyperbole in The Genius Who Invented Economics Blogging Reveals How He Got Everything Right And What’s Coming Next, but also offers well deserved praise for Bill McBride and Calculated Risk.  Paul Krugman in the NYT posts  All Hail Calculated Risk and praises Bill’s work as well. Bill […]

Karl Rove on the so-called "fiscal cliff"

by Linda Beale Karl Rove on the so-called “fiscal cliff” In a video interview available from Dow Jones/Wall Street Journal, “Karl Rove Doubts a Fiscal Cliff Deal Will Get Done” (Nov. 20, 2012),  Karl Rove’s pre-Thanksgiving news to the world is exactly what one would expect from one of the most successful GOP strategists.  He […]

Housing wealth effect, Baker, Goldfarb and Waldmann

by Robert Waldmann Everything is possible and I think that Dean Baker just lost a debate with a Washington Post reporter.  Post reporter Zachary A. Goldfarb  wrote The two economists compared what happened in U.S. counties where people had amassed huge debts with those where people had borrowed little. It had long been thought that […]