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

Beyond the horse race to lead the FED

Sarah Binder is a professor of political science at George Washington University and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, offers some thoughts on the FED and its changing role ( re-posted with authors permission, for the complete post go to original): Beyond the horse race to lead the FED …As the horse race for […]

The Right cuts food stamps to pass corporate farm welfare–where’s the sense in that?

by Linda Beale The Right cuts food stamps to pass corporate farm welfare–where’s the sense in that? The House has its priorities firmly in mind.  Those priorities involve making sure that the wealthy people and corporations keep their wealth while any and all possible cuts to any welfare or “entitlement” programs are made. All you […]

EITC refund withheld in student loan default

Jared Bernstein writes about the EITC today (Earned Income Tax Credit), which is a program to help lift people out of poverty when they fall into low-paying jobs. I just want to add another wrinkle to the story. When a student defaults on their student loans, which is something that will happen more and more […]

High-Frequency Traders are Eating Investors’ Brains. For Free!

It can be tough to articulate a cogent argument against high-frequency trading in the context of highly liquid, efficiently functioning securities markets, but I think Rajiv Sethi has done so (riffing off Michael Lewis’s typically scathing and revealing article on Goldman’s recent bad behavior). In brief, in my words: 1. Value investors are trying to buy shares in […]

Ways and Means–still distracting with false scandals

by Linda Beale Ways and Means–still distracting with false scandals GOP representatives Camp and Boustany are continuing to beat the dead horse of an IRS “scandal” connected with the way the IRS has attempted to efficiently filter new applications for 501(c)(4) status to provide extra scrutiny to the most likely groups to be engaged in […]

David Sirota Agrees with me on the Tax Reform "Secrecy" Scandal

by Linda Beale David Sirota Agrees with me on the Tax Reform “Secrecy” Scandal As I mentioned in an earlier post, Max Baucus has established a secret submission process for Senators to let him know what pet tax loopholes they want to retain (probably the ones that high-paid lobbyists representing corporations with operations in their […]

The headline juxtaposition boggles the mind

David Zurin from The Nation writes The headline juxtaposition boggles the mind: The headline juxtaposition boggles the mind. You have, on one day, “Detroit Files Largest Municipal Bankruptcy in History.” Then on the next, you have “Detroit Plans to Pay For New Red Wings Hockey Arena Despite Bankruptcy.” Yes, the very week Michigan Governor Rick Snyder […]

Inequality: Obama’s Speech, Detroit’s Bankruptcy, Taxes

by Linda Beale Inequality: Obama’s Speech, Detroit’s Bankruptcy, Taxes Was Obama’s speech on inequality really what Michael Lind claims in “The Day the Right Lost the Economic Argument” Salon.com (July 25, 2013)? The right, both here and internationally, has been pushing for austerity for most while those at the top reap unparalleled rewards from upward-moving […]