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

Corporations Never Had It So Good

by Linda Beale Corporations Never Had It So Good The  press is covering the GAO‘s latest report on corporate taxes:  Corporate Income Tax: Effective Tax Rates Can Differ Significantly from Statutory Rate(May 30, 2013). The study, looking at income and taxes reported in financial filing statements for 2008-2010, was conducted because Proponents of lowering the […]

About That “Poking Into Every Nook and Cranny of Daily Life” Thing, Chief Justice Roberts …

If there is no mystery about the nature of the chief justice’s views, I remain baffled by their origin. Clearly, he doesn’t trust Congress; in describing conservative judges, that’s like observing that the sun rises in the east. But oddly for someone who earned his early stripes in the Justice Department and White House Counsel’s […]

The End of the Untouchables Era: The Coming End of Institutionalized Federal and State Judicial Abuse of Office [UPDATED]

Last Thursday (Jun. 27) I posted a piece here titled “Poetic Justice for Justice Alito.  Maybe.”, that discussed the concerted and deeply successful effort begun in the mid-1980s by the Reagan-era appointees to the federal appellate bench and continuing unremittingly since then, to invite virulent abuse of litigants and lawyers by judges—the more overt and […]

Senate Finance Leaders push "blank slate" to tax reform

by Linda Beale Senate Finance Leaders push “blank slate” to tax reform Senators Baucus and Hatch, the Chair and ranking minority member of the Senate Finance Committee, respectively, launched a bid for completing a Code reform before Baucus leaves office with a letter to Senators telling them that they should get their bids in within […]

Asset Reflux Disease: Explaining Koo to Krugman

Or: Why Banks Aren’t Like People Steve Keen does a good job of addressing Paul Krugman’s befuddlement with Richard Koo’s balance-sheet-based thinking, here, with detailed models showing how funds flow and stocks change over time. I’d like to address it more succinctly and I hope intuitively, by pointing out a simple misunderstanding that Paul shares […]

what’s in your reader??

Rjs sends this note on what readers are using to replace Google Reader: These are the ones I have: http://www.netvibes.com/ http://cloud.feedly.com/ http://theoldreader.com/ http://www.newsblur.com/ http://reader.aol.com/ http://digg.com/reader Tyler Cohen had a post on that recently, linking to 9 recommendations: Life after Google Reader

Health Care Thoughts: Obamacare Meets Immigration Reform

by Tom aka Rusty Rustbelt Health Care Thoughts: Obamacare Meets Immigration Reform With the passage of the Senate version of immigration reform we have some details to ponder. Illegals who become “provisional” for up to 13 years will not qualify for some Obamacare credits and subsidies. Workers who receive “unaffordable” insurance coverage from employers will […]

Subprime securities – still being downgraded

Lifted from comments by reader Juan comes this article from the Finacial Times: Subprime securities – still being downgraded Some two weeks ago Moody’s announced it was downgrading 28 tranches of various bonds (as well as upgrading two tranches, and confirming others) in an action that covered roughly $1.2bn worth of mortgage-backed securities (MBS). … […]