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 […]
by Joseph Joyce European Doldrums European economies are faltering. The German economy contracted in the second quarter, as did those of France and Italy. Growth in Spain and the Netherlands was not enough to offset the slowdown in the Eurozone’s largest members. An escalation in the confrontation with Russia would send shockwaves rippling from the […]
Part 3 of Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century is the longest section of the book (230 pages out of 577), providing his analysis of inequality at the level of individuals. Notably, Piketty largely avoids the use of the familiar Gini index because, in his view, it obscures the issue by combining the effects […]
I see so many listings about older dogs whose owner can no longer care for him or her, usually because of finances. I just received this sweet, touching email notice,* from Hempstead Animal Shelter in Wantaugh, NY (Nassau County), via RescueMe.org, and thought I’d pass it along. *Corrected link, thanks to Noni Mausa. A note has […]
(lightly edited for ease of reading) Yesterday the Conference of Mayors and the Council on Metro Economies and the New American City released a report prepared by IHS Global Insight that is a repeat and thus update of a similar study performed after the 2001 – 2002 recession. Income and Wage Gaps Across the US. I […]
In 1998, the gov made it impossible to discharge federal student loans through bankruptcy except upon death, disability, or public service. The gov did provide certain measures to change payments then such as forbearance, economic forbearance (no interest for 3 years), and payment change. In 2005 private student loan originators lobbied to have the same […]
Matt Bruenig gives us a great breakdown of what poverty would look like if we relied on the market to solve it (as we did almost exclusively for thousands of years before the emergence of enlightened modern welfare states over the last two centuries). The poverty rate among the elderly would be > 45%. (Old […]
by Maggie Mahar Despite extensive media coverage, there is probably much that you don’t know about the history of the border crisis—and what we can or should do in response. Too often the headlines are designed to stir passions, rather than inform. At the end of next week, Congress will leave for its five-week August […]
This is my FRED graph of the day post. Recently I was almost semi convinced by the Conservative argument that recent unusually rapid growth of employment fit what they said would happen if the extended unemployment insurance program ended. Then I glanced at the data on flows from unemployment to employment and noted that there […]
Here is a video from the IMF… At the 4 minute point, the representative talks about youth unemployment in Europe and recommends two things… training to appropriate skills which would make someone more valuable. bringing down costs of employment. Oh, how wonderful!… Make your skills more valuable only to meet wage suppression. They just do […]