This Burtless Brookings Blog post really is a must read. Burtless notes that taxes and transfers (including both ARRA and automatic responses to the recession) prevented huge income declines for the lower 60% of US households during the great recession. In contrast high income households were hammered. Federal policy actually worked. The post is a […]
Dan here…sometimes just economics isn’t enough even on an economics blog. This sermon was lightly edited for readability. by Rev. Nathan Detering (First Parish Sherborn, MA) Longing for More, Wanting What We Have “Have compassion for everyone you meet even if they don’t want it. What seems conceit, bad manners or cynicism is always […]
Dan here…this piece is originally published at Oxford University Press by Angry Bear Edward Lambert. by Edward Lambert Thanksgiving and the economics of sharing For this American, my favorite holiday has always been Thanksgiving. Why? I have an image in my mind of Native Americans and colonists meeting and sharing food together; they share knowledge […]
Well, it is about time for a higher authority to push strongly for higher wages. The Wall Street Journal has an article about the Bank of Japan’s Governor, Haruhiko Kuroda. Basically, companies need to use their increased profits and reserves to raise labor’s pay. If companies do not raise labor’s pay significantly, Abenomics will fail.
There is definitely a meme in the progressive blogosphere that conservatives and liberals think differently. People try to be polite, but I don’t think I’m the only person who perceives it to be really about the hypothesis that conservatives are not capable of rational thought. One way of putting this is that “The Republican Brain” […]
You really do want to read this post by Matt Yglesias It is too good to excerpt, especially because the best part is the screen capture. There are many things one could say about this comparison, starting with the fact that unlike a proper caudillo such as Augusto Pinochet, Obama hasn’t had thousands of people […]
I have comments on Brad DeLong’s question asked of Richard Koo. Re: Brad Delong http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2014/11/a-question-i-want-to-ask-richard-koo-daily-focus.html which is Re: Richard Koo http://www.oenb.at/dms/oenb/Publikationen/Volkswirtschaft/CEEI/2014/koo_ppp/Koo_PPP. “I am not sure that I can ask this question coherently.” I think the question is plenty coherent. The post-script does a better job of capturing not your personal confusion but just how confusing […]
Guest Post by Mark Jamison, retired Postmaster. News of Ron Johnson the Tea Party favorite from Wisconsin taking over as chair of the Senate committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs has caused an overwhelming sense of panic among progressives and postal workers. Johnson will control oversight of the Postal Service in the Senate. There […]
Crooks and Liars has a post up on it’s site here: Wingnut Cartoonist At Indy Star Gets His (Gary Varvel) Cartoon Yanked Claiming the cartoon was overtly racist, the Indianapolis Star eventually yanked it after initially removing the mustache off of the man coming through the window claiming the mustache created an image too ethic. […]