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

Prime working age employment up, participation up (finally) – now how about wages?

by New Deal democrat Prime working age employment up, participation up (finally) – now how about wages? The March jobs report finishes the first quarter, which make it easier to update some labor participation trends, which, along with wages, has really lagged in this nearly 8 year old expansion. In order to eliminate the issue […]

Thank God it’s Boilerplate!: The Economist is lumping its labour

by Sandwichman Thank God it’s Boilerplate!: It’s Thursday and The Economist is lumping its labour The Economist and Jonathan Portes are at it again. “Lump of labor! Lump of labor!” The occasion? A proposal for a four-day workweek announced by the U.K. Green Party at their convention this week in Liverpool.  The Economist pretended to […]

When you hear ‘growing our economy’ to pay for services

Via Naked Capitalism is a post by Pavlina R. Tcherneva of Bard College at New Economic Perspectives. Worth reading the whole post… by Pavlina R. Tcherneva   (originally published at New Economic Perspectives) Inequality Update: Who Gains When Income Grows? Growth in the US increasingly brings income inequality.  A striking deterioration in this trend has […]

The Overseas Cash Grab

NYT Dealbook points to a how the 2 trillion dollar overseas money can come “home” and how money is spent.  2005 comes to mind the last time repatriation of “overseas money” comes to mind. Linda Beale Repatriation holiday lobbying – Money Speaks and More on repatriation. Taxprof blog here and Senate report here. The Overseas Cash […]

Complacency Or Community Commitment? Human And Social Capital Reconsidered

by Barkley Rosser (originally published at Econospeak) Complacency Or Community Commitment? Human And Social Capital Reconsidered I have been poking at Tyler Cowen’s recent book on The Complacent Class, along with those who have praised it unstintingly, with my main complaint being that what he calls complacency may really be fear.  In an exchange posted […]

Fifty Shades of Yellow? Post-Truth Then and Now

by Peter Dorman (originally published at Econospeak) Fifty Shades of Yellow? Post-Truth Then and Now Simon Wren-Lewis can’t take it anymore. I’ve just read his fulminations on the blatant dishonesty of right wing media outlets in the US and the UK, untethered to any residual professional attachment to standards of evidence and nakedly in the […]