Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.

Campaigning on Tax Increases II The Republicans.

Robert Waldmann Kevin Drum writes“The GOP leadership has released “Tread Boldly,” a guidebook for Republican members of congress during the summer recess, and it includes a whole section called “Spending Restraint Solutions for Discussion.” Finally, we’ll get some details! So here they are: ‘Canceling unspent “stimulus” funds, saving up to $266 billion …’ Being hep […]

Smart Philosophy Major Snowed by Rustbelt Governor

Robert Waldmann Matthew Yglesias has a new argument for encouraging exports of manufactures. I am not at all convinced. He seems to be asserting that employment in wholesaling and transportation follows production not sales and so is increased by manufacturing for export. I really doubt that. Yglesias wrote (click to see his graph). I saw […]

What is Happening In Italian Politics ?

Robert Waldmann This will be a long post as it is not easy to explain how Italian politics got this way to foreigners. First I will discuss recent developments. Later I will discuss the characters in the commedia and history. Until this week, Silvio Berlusconi was, on paper, a very powerful Prime minister with a […]

Still Sleazy After All These Years

Robert Waldmann David Stockman (yes Reagan’s OMB director David Stockman) denounces the Republican Party for its irresponsible love of tax cuts for the rich. This is wonderful. With such a large target, he manages many hits. He also manages to demonstrate that he is still intellectually dishonest, as is shown after the jump. Stockman argues […]

Megan McArdle Disappoints Me

Robert Waldmann I thought the only thing she knew was that she is a libertarian. Now I realize she doesn’t even know what the word “libertarian” means. She wrote Will the new head of the CFPA crack down on mortgages that offer prepayment options? [skip] Of course not. There is no constituency for such a […]

Should Potential Employers have Access to Credit Scores ?

Robert Waldmann Oh good, Kevin Drum and Matthew Yglesias disagree. This is bound to be interesting. Drum remembers the good old days when liberals had less respect for the standard results of simple neoclassical economic models. The specific issue is that firms are using credit scores to decide who to hire. This can trap some […]

Campaigning on Tax Increases ?!?

Robert Waldmann For decades, I have been advising Democrats to focus attention on the progressivity of the tax system. This is an issue where the vast majority of US adults totally disagree with the Republicans and which people care about. My policy proposal and political strategy is to increase progressivity increasing taxes on the rich […]