From the Washington Post At the top of the priority list: a promise to forge a bipartisan compromise that reduces rampant government borrowing and makes long-postponed decisions about taxes and spending. In the interview, Obama called a budget deal “one of the best things we can do for the economy.”“We’re going to be in a […]
You can’t say Wall Street has no ethics…but you can say what kind:
Lifted from Angry Bear Robert’s Stochastic Thoughts, and Brad Delong and Naked Capitalism beat me to it…oh well: I have always assumed that Romney must be smart, because of the way in which he acquired great wealth. Yes he was ruthless and dishonest (the real scandal is what is legal). But there are lots of […]
Via Economist’s View comes a segment from a Krugman and Stiglitz video: instituteforneweconomicthinking on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free [Note: The video starts at the 16:15 mark, and the Krugman and Stiglitz discussion begins at 25:30]
by Linda Beale The GOP, rape and abortion, and the place of God in political discourse Remember GOP candidate Akin and his comments about no-pregnancies-from-legitimate-rape, suggesting somehow that most rapes are not legitimate and are maybe sought after by the one raped as well as by the rapist? Akin revealed an incredible lack of understanding […]
by Linda Beale Growing inequality calls for both “predistribution” and (rightly directed) redistribution In putting forward my theme of democratic egalitarianism, I have often noted that there is no such thing as an economically egalitarian society–there will always be differentials among people, those differences often relate to social class and the education, privileged upbringing, and […]
(Dan here…a recent talk I attended on water in Burkina Faso reminded me to look at another important issue even for the US) by David Zetland David Zetland is a senior water economist at Wageningen University in the Netherlands and maintains a blog on water issues at Aguanomics. Will San Diego make the desalination mistake? […]
by Kenneth Thomas Starbucks in Hot Water Over British Tax Reuters (via Tax Research UK) reported on October 15 the results of an extensive investigation into the British unit of coffee giant Starbucks, the second largest restaurant firm in the world after McDonald’s. It turns out that the company has reported losing money in every […]
Lifted from Robert Waldmann’s more private thoughts: I love this video. I agree that it is very odd for Romney to brag about balancing a budget with a 1.5 billion dollar federal bailout. But what exactly does it mean for a manager of a firm to balance a budget ? I’d say the very minimum […]
Via Economist’s View on reducing oil imports and energy independence for the US is reader Min’s proposal, which I have unabashedly stolen: For forty years politicians have been promising energy independence for the US. Forget it. It is not going to happen, at least not any time soon. Our best bet is to cut back […]