One Salent Oversight notes:—————–Summary:—————–Low savings rates are the main cause of the current crisis. Moreover,the previous recession caused by the tech boom was also a result of afailure to save. The US economy (and others) have discouraged savings,which has resulted in an overinvestment in high risk ventures (such asasset price bubbles). Had savings rates been […]

rdan(h/t reader Jack) The NYT reports: Not only have individual financial institutions become less vulnerable to shocks from underlying risk factors, but also the financial system as a whole has become more resilient.” — Alan GreenspanMultimedia Punit Paranjpe/ReutersA LINGERING GLOBAL INFLUENCE An interview with Alan Greenspan, nicknamed the Oracle, was shown live outside the Bombay […]

Palin’s accent past and present

rdan Hat tip K Harris for this link to National Public Radio and this thought as well regarding Tom’s post below: The issue at hand is that Treasury resisted the notion of equity in return for aid all the way along, and now is putting out the word that equity in return for aid is […]

by reader Denis Drew To over-price lower skilled labor or to under-price higher skilled labor — is that the question? Santa Fe’s minimum wage raise to $8.50/hr (now $9.50/hr, soon indexed) lost lower skilled workers a significant number of jobs (8.3%, adjusted for something – nominal employment rose) many to higher skilled replacements, according to […]

by cactus The Flat Tax Revolution – A Brief Second Visit It wasn’t that long ago that folks on the right were crowing about how flat tax fever was sweeping much of Europe and producing monster economic growth. (Examples abound – enter the words “flat tax revolution Europe” and you find about 200,000 hits, most […]

rdan William Polley has a note on paying interest with links to Altig, DeLong, and others: David Altig takes up the question with links back to Marginal Revolution, DeLong, as well as my post from yesterday. (Thanks, David!) Rather than looking at it as what DeLong calls “Operation Twist”, Altig opts for the simpler explanation […]

rdan Dean Baker at Beat the Press notes Brokaw’s definitive pronouncement about Social Security: If Social Security Was a Private Corporation Then it Would Sue Tom Brokaw for Every Penny He Has If a news reporter deliberately makes a false statement claiming that a private company like Boeing or Microsoft is going broke, the company […]

by cactus Ranking Presidents on Real Economic Growth – The Definitive List As we get closer to election time, the level of invective seems to be going up. What I find interesting is how the intersection between that invective, general ignorance, and outright charlatanism. For example, mention of FDR is cropping up a lot in […]