From Thomas Dewar, Public Citizen News release: Quote: “… Also fueling congressional opposition to Fast Track is the abysmal outcome of the Obama administration’s only major trade pact to date, the U.S.-Korea FTA, which is the template for the TPP. In contrast to Obama’s promises that the Korea deal would boost exports, in the agreement’s […]
Dan here….Somehow this makes sense: “Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires.” – John Steinbeck
by Linda Beale IRS will issue summonses for offshore bank account info The IRS got court orders permitting it to see information about taxpayers with undisclosed offshore bank accounts from US banks. In re the Tax Liabilities of John Does (SDNY No. 1:13-mc-00377 Nov. 12, 2013). According to BNA Daily Tax RealTime (Nov. 12, 2013 […]
I was up late last night tinkering in the “equation workshop” to calculate the center of the business cycle (potential GDP). The equation is opening up my eyes to some new insights. The center of the business cycle is an important concept. It is the core foundation of the real GDP business cycle. Ultimately the […]
Columbia U. Conference Shows Incentives Pervasive but Controls Work Day one of the Columbia International Investment Conference in New York has concluded, and the takeaways are very clear. The topic is investment incentives, prompted by Louise Story’s “United States of Subsides” series last December. Story moderated panel 1, which covered the pervasiveness of subsidies. How […]
Ah now Kevin Drum wrote about something I know something about. He notes a post by John Cochrane and said he was licking his lips waiting for the Delong/Krugman demolition which, however disappointed him.
The many cases of people receiving cancellation letters from their health insurance companies which include the claim that the policy will be cancelled as of Jnuary 1 because of the ACA and which offer insurance at much higher premiums have caused a political crisis for Obama nd other Democrats. I have a number of confused […]
Jon Chait is not impressed by Bill clinton. Bill Clinton Wants You to Keep Your Plan, Won’t Say How Bad Secretary of Explaining Stuff! organizing skittish red-state senators is one thing; organizing Bill Clinton is another. The former president now says that the government should change Obamacare to allow everybody in the individual market who […]
Many economists say we still have a big output gap and that we will eventually return to the potential GDP trend from before the crisis. It is not a wise view. Let me reveal a mystery to explain. The following graph shows annual % growth for real GDP and potential GDP (center of business cycle). […]
I was going to leave Richard Cohen alone: Gawker, LG&M, Dr. Black, etc. etc. all covered him. There’s nothing to say that Katherine Weymouth didn’t already, save possibly that I’m thinking of burning all my non-existent copies of Mariah Carey’s “Fantasy” in effigy. But I can’t resist coming out of what appears to be a […]