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

UPDATE On Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum. And How It Could Impact ‘Court-Stripping’ Jurisprudence.*

Last Wednesday, the day after oral argument at the Supreme Court in a case called Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum, both Linda and I posted about the case.  Linda’s post I believe was written shortly before the argument although posted afterward.  Mine was written after the argument and discussed news reports about what occurred.  The […]

Due Process: Holder vs Colbert. Art or Reality. Choose.

This is the object:  No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury,… nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law;   It’s all one sentence. Any questions?   This is Art: The lyrics of […]

Has America Lost It’s Drive? – Pt. 4

In Part 3 of this series, I wondered a couple of things.  – With the vehicle/1000 people number in the range of 825 to 845 since 2004, is the market near saturation?– Is the January sales number of 14.2 SAAR (seasonally adjusted at annual rate) enough to maintain the vehicle/1000 people number? For the first […]

Euro Area GDP Report: Not Pretty

by Rebecca Wilder Euro Area GDP Report: Not Pretty Today Eurostat released the second estimate of Q4 2011 Gross Domestic Product. Real Euro area (EA) GDP declined 0.3% over the quarter (-1.3% on an annualized basis). In this release Eurostat provides a breakdown across region, spending categories, and industry, and is much more detailed than […]

Greg Mankiw attempting to justify carried interest

by Linda Beale Greg Mankiw attempting to justify carried interest Greg Mankiw wrote an op-ed in the Sunday Times Money section: Capital Gains, Ordinary Income and Shades of Gray, New York Times (Mar. 4, 2012). Mankiw notes the historical trend in the US to differentiate between capital gains and ordinary income regarding tax rates (though […]

Why We Have Such a Wacko Health Insurance System

My last post prompted me to revisit one from last May that I thought Bears might appreciate. For your delectation: Conservatives love to point out that our employer-based health insurance system is a result of wage controls under FDR. Since employers weren’t able to attract workers with higher wages, they started offering benefits instead — notably […]

Business Roundtable Proposes Obamacare to Restore American Competitiveness

Or: You Just Can’t Make This Shit Up “Health Care Costs Put U.S. at Significant Disadvantage Compared with Global Competitors” I’ll let you read the details, but short story: Whodathunkit? And what do they recommend? Creating greater consumer value in the health care marketplace by using health information technology and empowering consumers with more information […]

New Keynesian Vs Keynes Challenge II

Eminent New Keynesian Economist Susanto Basu commented on a post challenging people to come up with an empirically useful idea in macroeconomics not to be found in “The General Theory of Employment Interest and Money.” Here I will just note again how incredibly polite New Keynesians tend to be. bold numbers added for future reference […]