Auto and light truck sales for September was just reported at a rather strong 14.96 million units. This puts sales back above the strong trend line for this recovery. But it might be more interesting to look at production that has also been very strong. Since production bottomed during the cash for clunkers program industrial production […]
AUTO SALES, PRODUCTION AND EMPLOYMENT
Justice Scalia’s Super Body (And, no, it has nothing to do with the Constitution’s Free Exercise Clause. Really.)*
First, Justice Anthony Kennedy wants to know what possible connection there is between Esther Kiobel, the wrongs she says unfolded in Nigeria, and the United States. The answer the plaintiffs’ lawyer, Paul Hoffman, gives is that his clients live here because the U.S. government gave them asylum. Also, Royal Dutch Petroleum does plenty of business […]
The Devil’s Greatest Trick is Convincing You He Doesn’t Exist
Felix Salmon (26 Sep 2012): [Secretary of the Treasury and former leaders of the FRB of New York Timmeh] Geithner just isn’t that Machiavellian: his biggest weakness is that he isn’t political enough, rather than that he’s some kind of master puppeteer. Brad DeLong (24 Nov 2009): Geithner is where he is because for […]
Unemployment Rates Across the Euro Area – Tough Times in Key Markets
by Rebecca Wilder Unemployment Rates Across the Euro Area – Tough Times in Key Markets Today Eurostat released its unemployment rate figures for the month of August. The Euro area unemployment rate held firm at 11.4% for the third consecutive month. Spain still has the highest unemployment rate in the euro area, 25.1%, and Greece […]
Conservative roots of Obamacare
by Kenneth Thomas Conservative roots of Obamacare The pile-on continues. As I discussed in February, Stuart Butler of the Heritage Foundation wrote a breath-taking op-ed in USA Today (via Don Taylor) denying that he fathered the individual mandate. In fact, his revised 140-page research paper was published January 2, 1989, before President George HW Bush […]
Mitt Romney’s Unintentionally Hilarious Tax Return FAQ
by Kenneth Thomas Mitt Romney’s Unintentionally Hilarious Tax Return FAQ Unless you’ve been in a coma, you have certainly heard about Mitt Romney’s release of his 2011 tax returns last Friday. You no doubt know that he and his wife did not claim all the charitable tax deductions they were due, so their tax rate […]
Open thread September 28, 2012
57% of Leading Economists are Not Worried About an Inflationary Wage/Price Spiral
8% are. 23% are uncertain or have no opinion. I really like this IGM panel (check out the roster — pretty damned impressive, or at least credentialed), but I wish they didn’t post such wishy-washy, softball questions. I post this one because it’s not. The one I’d really like them to ask: A modern, prosperous […]
Our Unserious Supreme Court: “Federalism,” “Jurisdiction,” Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co., and Anthony Kennedy – [Typo-corrected and updated TWICE]
In the comments to my post of yesterday titled, “Welcome Back, Supreme Court Justices! (Well, for the next two weeks, anyway.),” Angry Bear colleague Dan Becker wrote: Hi Bev, I have read about this case. Still unclear even after reading your piece as to what the law was for, to do and how the new […]