Update: By Dale Coberly (was inadvertently omitted as author, although regulars know and the label names him) SOCIAL SECURITY: IT’S JUST MATH or how to lie with numbers “Math doesn’t lie” seems to be the new focus group tested mantra about Social Security that Congressmen and their journalists are so proud to repeat. What it […]
by Linda Beale Senators Levin and Isakson: millionaire surtax vs corporate repatriation subsidy The PBS News Hour last night interviewed Senators Levin and Isakson on the jobs bill (video and transcript available here). Isakson was first off. He sounded like a right wing sound bite machine: we’re overregulating businesses so we need a “time out” […]
by Dale Coberly ARITHMETIC MATTERS I was thinking that someone could fault my essay the other day about the “Intelligence Squared” debate. I said that Howard Dean’s side did not really help anyone understand why, or what, or how to “save the program.” I hope I helped explain the why and what, but I probably […]
H/t Mike Kimel Via Economist’s View This is from Jialan Wang: Benford’s Law and the Decreasing Reliability of Accounting Data for US Firms, by Jialan Wang: …[T]here are more numbers in the universe that begin with the digit 1 than 2, or 3, or 4, or 5, or 6, or 7, or 8, or 9. […]
by Linda Beale GOP Representative moves to increase deficit–and aid the investor class The GOP has made lots of fusses lately about the deficit. According to the party line, earned benefits that Americans rely on for health care and retirement income just “have” to be reduced, no matter how painful it is to the GOP-controlled […]
By Jeff McCord is a former US Senate staffer, Securities Investor Protection Corp (SIPC) executive and has been a free-lance journalist for Dow Jones publications. His academic background in economics includes post-graduate work at the London School of Economics and George Washington University. THE THIRD BATTLE OF MANASSAS AND WHAT WALL STREET PROTESTORS SHOULD ASK […]
by Rebecca Wilder Expect Neither ‘Sustainable’ nor ‘Comprehensive’ From Euro Area Leaders On Sunday, Merkel and Sarkozy promised a “sustainable and comprehensive” solution to the euro debt crisis ahead of the November 3-4 G20 meeting. Along with this rather grand announcement are absolutely no details on their plan. However, Van Rompuy today pushed back the […]
by Linda Beale More on Repatriation–WIN America corporatist lobbying group’s strike back on Heritage In a recent posting, I commented further on the lack of arguments supporting the corporatist lobbying drive for another “repatriation tax holiday” for multinational corporations that have stashed more than a trillion abroad (often through gimmicky transfers of intangible property such […]
by Dale Coberly INTELLIGENCE SQUARED DEBATE OFFERS LITTLE IN THE WAY OF ACTUAL INTELLIGENCE I am reading a short article on the Intelligence Squared debate I previously referred to in Social Security For the Young. It turns out they were more concerned with “insurance” than with Social Security. But they don’t seem to understand the […]
The practice of ‘peer benchmarking’ and cozy relationships on executive boards have contributed to a steep rise in CEO pay since the 1970s, reports Peter Whoriskey in The Washington Post’s latest “Breakaway Wealth” report. Pay data 2010.