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

For Profit College, Student Loan Default, and the Economic Impact of Student Loans

For Profit Goes on Probation The University of Phoenix has been placed on probation by the Department of Defense preventing the university from recruiting on military bases. The probation comes after the Federal Trade Commission and the California Attorney General’s investigation into the University of Phoenix recruiting methods, its high costs, and the resulting poor […]

Full text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement

Naked Capitalism…Full Text of TPP, Including Annexes, and Boy is it Nasty Here are several links to the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement just released: Full test for the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement Washingtom Post searchable TPP text Financial Times…Breaking down 5 big sections of the TPP Vox…Here is what you need to know

Why Prosperity Requires a Welfare State

I’ve got a new post up at a new site, Evonomics Magazine (“The next evolution of economics”). It’s an impressive offshoot with some great articles, assembled by folks involved with The Evolution Institute, which I’m a big booster for. My readers here will find much familiar in the post, but I’m happy with how it […]

Output is Normally Determined by Effective Demand

An article came out today by Ricardo Caballero, Emmanuel Farhi and Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, called On the global ZLB economy, where they talk about how a liquidity trap scenario can spread globally.They see a high demand for safe assets over their supply. “The growing global shortage of safe assets imparted a strong downward secular trend to […]

Keynes’ Vision of Effective Demand is Unfulfilled

We hear that aggregate demand must be increased. Just today in a great article giving 3 mismatches that should be fixed in the global economy we read… “First, aggregate demand is deficient relative to aggregate supply.” – (Restarting the global economy: Three mismatches that need concerted public action, Michael Spence, Danny Leipziger, James Manyika, Ravi […]

Many Republicans Want to Raise Taxes on Wealthy Americans

“Always click the link” — Kevin Drum In his latest Op-ed Paul Krugman wrote ” Americans overwhelmingly believe that the wealthy pay less than their fair share of taxes, and even Republicans are closely divided on the issue.” I would have guessed that a majority of rank and file Republicans agree with all Republican presidential […]