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

"The Red Light District of Sorts"

by Run 75441“The Red Light District of Sorts”The Democrats and the Republicans cannot agree on much these days. Because of the inability to agree, healthcare reform is aflame with controversy and in SCOTUS waiting for a decision on its constitutionality. Stimulating the economy languishes between cutting taxes for the rich in income to create jobs […]

When the rivers run dry — the review

by David Zetland When the rivers run dry — the review re-posted with permission from author from Aguanomics  Fred Pearce is an English journalist who’s been covering water issues for 20+ years (he’s just published a book on land grabs, review to come). I read the second edition of When the rivers run dry: Water […]

Why Equality Drives Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Coming at this question from my typical perspective: a business owner facing a national economy. You start a business vermont selling high-quality furniture. You’ve developed a new chair that’s better than the other chairs on the market. (Think: the Herman Miller Aeron Chair.) Say you’re planning to sell it for $700. (You can’t sell it […]

Op ed politics

by Mike Kimel The two luckiest people in American politics today are Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. Each is running against a politician whose accomplishments while an elected head of the executive branch are a disappointment even to most of his own supporters. If they were running against anyone else, they’d probably both go down […]

Euro Area Inflation: A Very Slow Burn

by Rebecca Wilder Euro Area Inflation: A Very Slow Burn Euro area consumer prices increased at a 2.4% annual pace in May, down 0.2 ppt from the 2.6% pace in April. Core inflation fell to 1.8% in May from 1.9% in April. Headline and core inflation peaked in the fourth quarter of 2011, and disinflation […]

Linda Greenhouse’s ACA-Litigation-Outcome Tea-Leave Reading (And Why I Think She’s Right)

In an email exchange between Dan and me on Tuesday, I wrote: Btw, the Supreme Court has been amazingly slow this term in issuing opinions in high-profile cases.  Most of the opinions they’ve issued recently are on pretty esoteric issues; they’re important, but pretty inside-baseball.  A good example is an opinion they issued yesterday.  Here’s […]

Why the World Should Care About America’s Middle Class

by Kenneth Thomas Guest post: Why the World Should Care About America’s Middle Class Tim Worstall, in his Forbes blog, attacks my series (here and here) on whether globalization is good for America’s middle class. Not on the basis that he disagrees with my conclusion (though he does), but because, he argues, there are much […]