by cactus I’ve noticed the issue of Obama blaming his predecessor for the poor economy has become a bit of a minor cause on the right. So I was curious as to whether there was precedent for this kind of thing. For how long can a president blame his predecessor for economic problems? I’m guessing, […]

by Martin Ford Job Automation, Purchasing Power and Consumer Spending I’ve had several recent posts here arguing that automation technology is likely to depress wages and lead to significant structural unemployment in the coming years. One of the most common criticisms of my argument is that I am “not thinking like an economist” and that […]

by Linda Beale(cross posted at ataxingmatter) One can question the timing of implementation, but can one argue against the financing? …Rdan War taxes? Since Bush invaded Afghanistan in 2001 (and then, Iraq), we have been paying for war as an afterthought. In the Bush era attempt to treat war as something that happened “over there” […]

by cactus Comparing Presidents – Real GDP per Capita, late 2009 edition Every so often I find I have to rewrite a post about how well Presidents have done at producing economic growth. See, over time, we get new readers, and some of the, based on what I read in comments or in e-mails I […]

Dean Baker asks a central question: If Bernanke Did Not Know the Fed’s Mission, Would That Be News? Not at the WSJ, nor it seems anywhere else. Yesterday, Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke referred to the “our dual mandate, which is growth and inflation.” In fact, the dual mandate is full employment (defined as […]

by coberly Robert Samuelson has written an article so nasty and dishonest that decent people might wish to avert their eyes. But the 288 comments on his website suggest that enough people believe him that it’s worth trying to explain what’s wrong with his thinking. Here is an example of it: ” One of our […]