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

Scariest Irvine Foreclosure

Dr. Black had a link to foreclosures in Irvine, California. This one especially caught my eye: 5031 Alcorn Lane, Turtle RockAmount owed: $298,876.14Last sale: July 2001, $485,000Auction date & time: Nov. 5 at 10 a.m.Location: In front of the flagpoles at Placentia Civic Center, 401-411 E. Chapman Ave.Trustee sale #: JPM-580Information: 714-573-1965 [emphasis mine] I […]

Rasmussen

Robert Waldmann The Rasmussen polling agency has two reputations. They have a good record predicting the vote in elections (which means especially primary elections give schduling and attention and stuff). On general public opinion, they ask questions which sure sound like Republican push polls. The theories are that they want to become Republican’s favorite pollster […]

Talking Point vs Reality: Health Care Reform’s Effect on Medicare

by Bruce Webb The latest Republican talking point, promoted among others by Chuck Grassley this morning, is that proposed cuts to Medicare make its financial situation more precarious. Why cut $500 billion if Medicare is already in trouble? This is totally backwards and shows a total unawareness of how Medicare is financed. So lets review: […]

Just Kill Me

Robert Waldmann Don’t kill the guy who writes headlines for www.washingtonpost.com. Nonviolence. First amendment. Free press. Don’t do it. I have already complained about another headline today, but I must admit that “Stagnant Prices Prevent Social Security Increase” totally leaves “Cap-and-Trade Would Slow Economy, CBO Chief Says” in the dust. OK so now the inflation […]

Globalized medicare vouchers

rdan Dean Baker suggests an intriguing innovation to competition in healthcare: While health care may at first blush not seem suitable for international trade, since the delivery is place specific, on closer inspection there are ways that the United States could benefit from the more efficient health care systems of other countries. The most obvious […]

Identify the Invisible Hand!

by Gavin Kennedy(cross posted from Adam Smith’s Lost Legacy) Identify the Invisible Hand! Alex Tabarrok writes on the Nobel Prize for Oliver Williamson in an article on the Marginal Revolution Blog “Oliver Williamson and the pin factory”, which is fine but it contains the following paragraph: “Transaction cost economics is all about applying these ideas […]

What Caused the Financial Crisis ?

Robert Waldmann has definitely not been spending enough time in bars. Nation food correspondent Calvin Trillin met a guy in a bar who explained why the financial system collapsed.I nominate some guy in a bar for the Nobel memorial prize in economics. The explanation ? “The financial system nearly collapsed,” he said, “because smart guys […]

Innumeracy

Robert Waldmann Doug Elmendorf says that the costs of cap and trade will be miniscule and does not try to estimate the benefits. Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post demonstrates that she is the second most innumerate person on the planat, the most innumerate is the** guy who wrote the headline “Cap-and-Trade Would Slow Economy, […]

Political lawn signs

by cactus I live in a city of with less than a quarter million people. (The greater metropolitan area is larger, of course – there are well over half a million people in the surrounding area.) Since we moved here a year and change ago, its hard to avoid noticing that in this city, politics […]