Remember Iceland? During the high-flying early 2000s, its three main banks went berserk, paying high interest rates to international investors that accumulated deposits equal to more than 100% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) and making loans equal to 980% of GDP. When the collapse came, Iceland took a route not taken by Ireland, […]
How many remote controls do you have for your TV? Do you care to describe the tangle of cables and wires connecting your various components? If you’re like almost everyone I know, the answers are “at least three, probably five” and “No!” Have you had a housesitter recently? How long did it take for you to […]
PGL at Angry Bear wrote several posts on the privitizing of the Indiana Toll Road in 2006 as a commenter reminds me at hearing of the news the firm that bought it went bankrupt: Via Daily Kos In 2006, Mitch Daniels, then the Republican Governor of Indiana, signed into law a “major moves” bill that, […]
Update appended below. (Second indented quote format also corrected.) —- In the Comments thread to Dan Crawford’s post below titled “Kalamazoo County Michigan…People and Offices to Write to Protest the Stealing of a Home,” I wrote: Dan, you don’t understand. This is freedom, see. I mean, it’s not like it’s the FEDERAL government that’s doing […]
When someone says, “if we raise the minimum wage, there will be more unemployment.” That may be true, but their fear of unemployment is not wise. It is better to say, “if we raise the minimum wage, will net social benefits be increased?” When someone says, “if the Fed had gradually raised the Fed […]
The White American Dream Game Just listening to the level of noise coming from some posters complaining about low income workers, how they caused their own predicament, and this is why they are unable to move upwards on the ladder of mobility. Low income and unskilled workers do not work hard enough, they did not […]
By David Zetland at Aguanomics, author of Living with Water Scarcity [free download for Angry Bear members] How should your community manage its water? MB asked one last question after my AWRA seminar: You said that each location should decide which system/structure they think is best for their context, but in the places you’ve traveled […]
Urban Legend— You write: That claim that one-third of Medicare spending is wasted sounds pretty questionable to me.” This is your opinion. If you had spent the last 20 years working as a medical researcher investigating unnecessary treatment, your opinion would be of great interest to all of us; but, I’m assuming you have not […]
In a speech by Janet Yellen on April 11, 2012, she talked about her preferred version of the Taylor rule to determine the Federal Funds rate. The Taylor (1993) rule calls for the federal funds rate to begin rising in early 2013, whereas the Taylor (1999) rule has its liftoff in early 2015, a lot […]
On Tue, Sep 9, 2014 at 1:47 PM, Dan <cdansplace2@aol.com> emailed: Rortybomb, New Piece on Where the ACA Should Go Next Rorty touts the 2009 House Bill which calls for a Public Option and described here To improve ‘Obamacare,’ reconsider the original House bill Maggie Mahar replies: Originally I favored a public option, but in […]