Yep, that’s right. (HT, Slate.) OK, guys, I COULDN’T RESIST. (After doing all this blogging on the case all day, I think I’m punch-drunk.) Hicccuppp.

I think there was a clue to Roberts’ thinking during the first day of argument—during the argument on the applicability of the Anti-Injunction Act, an obscure “jurisdictional” statute, which precludes courts from ruling on the constitutionality of a federal tax until after the statute becomes effective and the tax actually is due.  Roberts really indicated […]

While the Court’s upholding the mandate is deservedly taking front stage in the media coverage, the Court’s decision to strike down a part of the Medicaid expansion may ultimately have broader jurisdprudential consequence.  That, at least, will be a subject of debate among lawyers and academics in the days and weeks to come.  This is […]

No not the striking down of the mandate part, heck probably a thousand fingers were poised over an equal number of ‘Send’ keys when the ruling came down. Me? I took a shower and started thinking about the practical implications of ACA as it will operate under current law as modified today. Starting with the […]

UPDATE: From SCOTUSblog: “The bottom line: the entire ACA is upheld, with the exception that the federal government’s power to terminate states’ Medicaid funds is narrowly read.” TOTAL, TOTAL VICTORY   !!!! SECOND UPDATE: The opinion is 5-4, with Roberts voting with the Dem appointees and writing the opinion, and Kennedy writing the main dissent. Here’s […]

Lifted from the comments from an Ezra Klein article in the Washington Post comes an interesting idea that is not only currently debated, but also ties into ‘markets are “natural” idea’… Paul Andrews comments:Yes – lots of saving and borrowing, often in goods rather than money. When money is included its often only a fiat […]

Amy Howe, Anticipating the health-care decision: In Plain English,  SCOTUSblog”: …there are four questions before it. Three of those questions revolve around the “minimum coverage” provision, popularly known as the “individual mandate.”  …But before the Court can decide whether the mandate is constitutional, it must first decide whether it can even rule on this question […]

by Brenda Rosserre-posted from Econospeak with permission from the author The assumption that markets are ‘natural’ I’ve just begun to browse the pages of David Graeber’s  2011 book entitled ‘Debt – The First 5,000 Years’.  Graeber is an anthropologist who makes no bones about the historical errors made by many economists on the evolution of […]

by Kenneth Thomas Lost Output Over $3 Trillion And Rising Still traveling, so just a quick post, but this really can’t be emphasized enough. Andrew Fieldhouse at the Economic Policy Institute reports that the Congressional Budget Office now has cumulatively reduced its estimate of 2017 gross domestic product by 6.6% since the beginning of the […]

Thought this one might be interesting. Rdan (posted by Robert Waldmann / commentary after the jump) extreme poverty update update: I assume you have clicked the link. I’m not going to snip and paste the graph. Go there if you want to find out what I am talking about. The rate of extreme poverty (income […]