rdan (re-post) Perhaps Simon Johnson is correct in his estimation of a captured financial/government combination than is discussed in detail to date. Here is his Atlantic Monthly piece a la IMF perspective…two paragraphs stand out for me on the first page, but explanation goes on for several pages. In its depth and suddenness, the U.S. […]
Robert Waldmann People are talking about regulating credit default swaps (CDS) . They include Collin Petersen D-Minn who proposes making it illegal to own a CDS without owning the underlying instrument (this is absolutely standard for other kinds of insurance). and George Soros who supports the proposal.(via Felix Salmon) A problem, I think, is that […]
In their coverage of that $70 billion addition to the Federal debt, the Washington Post adds: House Majority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) said that holding the line on spending while allowing the low tax rates to spur the economy will close the gap. But the spending problem lies not so much with the federal […]
Jonah Goldberg and Glenn Reynolds want you to believe this: I HADN’T HEARD THIS: Bush’s tax cuts make the tax system more progressive, according to a new study from the Joint Economic Committee. Of course, what’s really interesting is how little tax revenue comes from people in lower brackets. They point to this link, which […]
Welcome back Kash and thanks for this post! I trust you saw those Cato Unbound discussions – and it seems David Frum is still as confused as ever: If we must have tax increases, the VAT would not be one of my choices, for the reason Summers predicts – I fear it will generate so […]
Well, it looks like they finally did it. Congressional Republicans agreed yesterday on new ways to raise future taxes. They’ve proven quite expert at cutting today’s taxes and paying for them by issuing more government debt – debt that will have to be repaid in the future through higher taxes, of course – so this […]
Via Mark Thoma comes a debate between David Frum and Bruce Bartlett as to the prospects of achieving fiscal responsibility through cuts in government spending. The short answer is that we cannot. Let’s have Mr. Frum up first: In the 1990s, the newly elected Republican congressional majority enjoyed what we can now see was the […]
As a supplement to the GDP report, the Bureau of Economic Analysis provides an estimate of aggregate mortgage interest and the effective rate of interest on mortgage debt outstanding. It should come as no surprise that the effective interest rate is increasing. Click on graph for larger image. After twenty years of declining rates, the […]
Donald Luskin praises Treas. Sec. Snow with the following: I’ve come to believe that John Snow is doing a terrific job. Since he was nominated by the president in January 2003, he has been at the center of the Bush administration’s best economic initiatives. In his first months in office, he helped push through the […]
Sensible and honest conservative Bruce Bartlett emails me the latest nonsense from Deroy Murdock: Modest legislation to extend President Bush’s tax cuts for two years, rather than make them permanent, is trapped in a House-Senate conference committee. Such inaction might be understandable if tax cuts actually “ballooned the deficit,” as tax hikers always charge. In […]