All You Need to Know about Newt The Gingrich health center’s support for such a mandate was part of an “Insure All Americans” plan that appears to have disappeared from the center’s Web site Thursday. See that there is nothing here http://www.healthtransformation.net/cs/insure_all_americans But it is still here Key quote Require that anyone who earns more […]

Rumors suggest that Italy is so desperate for money that it will try the full Monti*. Mario Monti is about to be asked to try to form a government. Of course the actual negotiations have begun, except it doesn’t seem that Prof. Monti is inclined to negotiate. His position seems to be that Italian politicians […]

The current consensus is that Berlusconi is toast, or, as Krugman would say, Crostini. It is a bit risky to change horses in mid crisis and change Prime ministers in mid stream, but Berlusconi is a large part of the reason no one trusts Italy. Also everyone is totally sick of him especially his closest […]

Republican Rep. Joe Walsh was the only Illinois congressman to be named a “True Blue” member of Congress for “unwavering support of the family” by the Family Research Council Action committee Thursday. Walsh’s ex-wife says Walsh owes more than $100,000 in back child support for their three children. emphasis mine. Uh couldn’t they have thought […]

Italy is more fubar than you imagine possible even taking into account the fact that it is more fubar than you imagine possible. That said, I insist the we are solvent (I am really really and that Italian long term treasuries (BTPs) are a great buy right now. Please. We need the money. But I […]

A challenge for monetary authorities in a liquidity trap is that it is hard convince people that they won’t reverse expansionary policies as soon as the economy leaves the liquidity trap. The other problem is that they can’t do much other than affect expectations while the economy is in a liquidity trap. This suggests that […]

Regular readers will recall that I have been very skeptical of claims that the Fed can cause a large reduction in unemployment by declaring a nominal GDP target and/or buying long term Treasuries. Joe Gagnon is very prominent advocate of unconventional policy, so I was surprised to find that I so strongly agreed with so […]

“Just when I thought I was out… they pull me back in” I tried to resist asking “what does “Nominal GDP targeting even mean.” I managed, but now Krugman is burying the hatchet and I am digging it up. So what is the proposal ? That the Fed have a target for 2012 nominal GDP […]

William Keller who until recently was executive editor of The New York Times asserts that Venezuela is a neighbor of Peru. A screenshot and a geography lesson are after the jump. I am following Glenn Greenwald, via Brad DeLong and was scooped on breaking geography news by Tim Dickonson and DeLong commenter GvaGuy The explanation […]

Your intrepid if somewhat tardy correspondent confirms the number one story at www.washingtonpost.com. The OWS demonstration in Rome provided cover for people who like to smash and burn things (the black block). This is the line of Rome’s right wing mayor and the right wing minister of the interior. Being late, as usual, I missed […]