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

A bit More on Dynamic Inefficiency

I recently asked if increased government debt causes increased welfare if the growth rate of the economy is greater than the safe rate of interest, even if the growth rate is lower than the risky rate of return on capital. With much help from a comment by Nick Rowe, I present an example in which […]

Krugman The Clairvoyant

[Paul Krugman] has a negative view of Bernie Sanders “Why I Haven’t Felt the Bern “ which links to his column on insulting Dixie. The post is brief and a bit odd — Krugman criticizes Sanders for: “… the casual adoption, with no visible effort to check the premises, of a story line that sounds good. It’s all […]

Good Jobs for Non-College Grads

by Peter Dorman  (originally  from Econospeak) Good Jobs for Non-College Grads It’s good to see that Katherine Newman has spoken up for really investing in kids who aren’t going on to college, which will always be a substantial chunk of them, no matter what.  If there’s any sort of social contract worth defending, it has to […]

Disagreeing with Paul Krugman ? 2

Still looking for a case in which I disagree with Paul Krugman, I jump in the deep end and discuss his thoughts on international trade in “The Return of Elasticity Pessimism (Wonkish)”. That is “the belief that trade flows barely respond to price signals, and hence that devaluations don’t help alleviate imbalances.” It is amazing […]

Disagreeing with Paul Krugman ? 1

I have long been embarrassed by the fact that I almost always agree with Paul Krugman — I fear that I am not an independent thinker. I eagerly look for chances to disagree and see two promising possibilities at his blog. He has a negative view of Bernie Sanders “Why I Haven’t Felt the Bern […]

A question looming before the debate last night was: Which of two mutually exclusive positions Clinton has taken recently on Dodd-Frank’s too-big-to-fail provision would she repeat in the debate? The answer: Both. [Updated 4/16]

As for Clinton herself, her bandwagon-jumping nature is a big reason why so many people dislike her.  But in this instance there was the additional element of dishonesty: she knew that Sanders rather than the editorial board members had it right about what Dodd-Frank provides. She had said so publicly, recently, in a statement in […]

Would you want Hillary Clinton as your home-mortgage broker? (This is a serious question, although it has nothing to do with actual mortgages. I don’t think.)

As for Clinton herself, her bandwagon-jumping nature is a big reason why so many people dislike her.  But in this instance there was the additional element of dishonesty: she knew that Sanders rather than the editorial board members had it right about what Dodd-Frank provides. She had said so publicly, recently, in a statement in […]

Social Security: Solvency, (Unfunded) Liability, Debt & Crisis (Part One)

By law the Annual Social Security Report is due by April 1. But as in every year for the last decade this deadline was missed and of course without explanation or excuse, leaving Social Security hobbyists like me whimpering. Luckily there are not a lot of SocSec fanboys and fangirls. It might be a club […]