Today’s release of personal income and expenditure data was about as expected and the January-February data suggest that first quarter real personal expenditures component of the real GDP account will show about 2% real growth. But the energy expenditures within the data has been little noticed. Normally rising energy prices dampen the economy. But this […]

The above is a more-than-semi-serious question. I’ll be blogging/tweeting the Kauffman Foundation’s Bloggers’s Forum tomorrow from 9:30-3:30 EDT (8:30-2:30 here in Kansas City; 6:30-12:30 in DeLong/Thomaville; in Hawaii, they’re still watching Dave Garroway). You can tell it has reached maturity because tomorrow’s presenters include J. Bradford DeLong, Scott Sumner, Tyler Cowen, and Karl Smith—and that’s […]

Firedoglake author David Dayen notes that Congressional Progressive Caucus’ Budget for All Deserves as Much Scrutiny as Paul Ryan’s Budget – As long as the news media devotes massive amounts of space to a fantasy budget, why can’t they turn their attention for just a minute to a more legitimate one? Sure, the Congressional Progressive […]

by Rebecca Wilder Euro area credit: did the ECB wait too long? The ECB released its February report on monetary developments in the Euro area. This is an important report, since it will highlight whether or not the ECB’s LTRO is ‘working’, rather if the new liquidity is passing through to the real economy via […]

I think Steve handles it admirably, and admirably briefly, so in this case I’ll simply point you over there. On bank lending’s creating deposits and Paul Krugman’s response | Credit Writedowns. Cross-posted at Asymptosis.

(Dan here…Lifted from Robert’s Stochastic Thoughts.  Just a comment.) by Robert Waldmann Most absurd use of “Most” Two of the bees in my bonnet are the www.WashingtonPost.com Headline writer(s) and the abuse of the word “most.” In a bit of a shift*, I complain about the www.nytimes.com headline:  “Most Americans Oppose Health Law, Poll Finds” […]

by Tom aka Rusty Rustbelt Health Care Thoughts: How Old is Too Old Former VP Dick Cheney had a heart transplant according to several news sources today. I will refrain from making “he never head a heart before jokes.” Serious question though – Cheney is 71, how old is too old to receive a heart […]

The key failing in Krugman’s response to Steve Keen’s response to Krugman’s paper (PDF) is here: If I decide to cut back on my spending and stash the funds in a bank, which lends them out to someone else, this doesn’t have to represent a net increase in demand. Krugman assumes here that people have […]

I’ve written repeatedly now on AB that the challenge to the constitutionality of the ACA’s minimum-coverage provision (a.k.a., the individual-mandate provision) is not really a Commerce Clause challenge but instead a challenge under the Fifth Amendment’s due process clause, under what is known as the “substantive due process” constitutional law doctrine.  The Fifth Amendment’s due […]

To the general public, all that matters are the headlines, reflecting the bottom line.  The universal consensus among reporters who attended the 90-minute Supreme Court argument yesterday on whether an 1867 law called the Anti-Injunction Act bars the Court from considering challenges to the constitutionality of ACA’s individual-mandate provision was that the justices will decide […]