To add to the fire Jazz and Steve have kindled, YOY inflation is at its lowest level historically according to the BEA and Next New Deal blog. It does not look like we need austerity policies and a little fiscal fire might put people back to work and stir the economy into growth. “Last Friday, […]

From  Aguanomics: Caveat emptor! (These are used to “mine” bitcoins, which are worth $100+ each.)

Just read this too-modestly titled post, and all the links as needed, until you understand it all the way down to your bones: A quick note on “helicopter drops” Kudos also to David Beckworth and Cardiff Garcia. Cross-posted at Asymptosis.

by Tom aka Rusty Rustbelt Health Care Thoughts: Rand Paul is a Loon, However….. Rand Paul told an Iowa crowd about “Obamacare codes” and listed some of the wackier codes. Problem is, he is referring to the ICD-10 adaptation, which was first set in motion by the Bush 43 administration. ICD-9 has about 17,000 diagnosis […]

From Aguanomics come these links: Fracking is coming to California in a big way. It’s likely that frackers will be heavily regulated on water quality; it’s ironic that farmers are worried that frackers may be polluting, what? More than them? Ironic, isn’t it? Climate change: “Warmer water will kill off most of California’s native fish […]

Sorry for the thin posting lately…I have had some SI joint problems which makes for difficulty sitting still to focus. Via Keven Drum comes this research paper addressing the issue of sticky wages in the economics of today: First off, a new paper by a trio of researchers confirms some old news: Adjusted for inflation, […]

Old news: April 3. But still: Following up on yesterday’s post, see here from Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in The Telegraph (emphasis mine): “All this talk of exit strategies is deeply negative,” [Woodford] told a London Business School seminar on the merits of Helicopter money, or “overt monetary financing”. He said the Bank of Japan made the mistake of […]

by Dale Coberly CHUCK BLAHOUS FINDS THE ANSWER FOR SOCIAL SECURITY AND LOSES IT. Charles Blahous is one of the politically appointed Trustees for Social Security. He has written “A Guide To The 2013 Social Security Trustees Report” at e21 Economic Policies for the 21st Century http://www.economics21.org/commentary/guide-2013-social-security-trustees-report . Blahous tells us “Social Security faces a […]

Part 1. The low standard deviation of GDP growth is simply an artifact of low GDP growth numbers. OK – that’s a bit over stated.   The low standard deviation of GDP growth is primarily an artifact of low GDP growth numbers Suppose you have a data set with values hovering around 13, with a […]