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

Mississippi sets a record for unreported subsidies

As I have written before, when states announce a major new investment, it is far more likely that the announced subsidy is an underestimate than an overestimate. A new Good Jobs First study commissioned by the United Auto Workers unearths a new example of this, which I believe is the largest underestimate ever: Nissan in […]

Timeline of climate modeling

Steve Easterbrook offers this quick timeline on climatology.   In particular, the movies and animations at the end, including the IPSL one, are very interesting and a lot of fun. See  Timeline of climate modeling

Another reason for NOT cutting Social Security benefits–seniors poorer than you think

by Linda Beale Another reason for NOT cutting Social Security benefits–seniors poorer than you think As everybody knows, a constant refrain of the far-right GOP establishment is a desire to cut taxes for the wealthy while cutting benefits for the poor. The ideological right talks about benefits for the poor as “welfare” but never talks […]

Interview with Mark Thoma

Angry Bear readers are familiar with Mark’s writings: Mark Thoma is a macroeconomist and time-series econometrician at the University of Oregon. His research focuses on how monetary policy affects the economy, and he has also worked on political business cycle models. Mark is currently a fellow at The Century Foundation, a columnist at The Fiscal […]

The IRS tale–Times letter writers seem to get it (or at least, most of them anyway)

by Linda Beale The IRS tale–Times letter writers seem to get it (or at least, most of them anyway) As I’ve noted in several posts on A Taxing Matter (see links, below), the media and right-wing “hearing” frenzy continues over the purported IRS “scandal” from “targeting” conservative groups for extra scrutiny in determining whether to […]

Useful information on 501(c)(4)s and 527s and the IRS’s scrutiny dilemma

by Linda Beale Useful information on 501(c)(4)s and 527s and the IRS’s scrutiny dilemma A fellow tax professor at Loyola University, Ellen Aprill, has put together a useful powerpoint on the way political activity comes into play in deciding whether an organization is eligible for 501(c)(4) status or should instead be treated as a 527 […]