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

Health Care Thoughts: Physicians "Rationing" Health Care

by Tom aka Rusty Rustbelt Health Care Thoughts: Physicians “Rationing” Health Care   Nine physician panels have recommended less testing of patients presenting with various conditions and diseases and less treatment for some diagnosis.   For Details: New York Times Much of this is low hanging fruit, such as using less antibiotics for sinusitis. Some of this […]

The Brute Economics of Slavery

Preramble: I posted this on my blog exactly a year ago today, in slightly different form.  Dan linked to it once, from here, just a few weeks before I started writing for Angry Bear.  Recent comments got me thinking about it again.   In thinking about the economics of slavery, I’m considering slavery and serfdom to […]

Extraordinarily warm tempratures

This post is not very economic oriented except indirectly, but I felt a need to mark the extraordinary temperatures of high and some low 100 year records.  Lifted and edited for readability in blog format from an e-mail newsletter sent by reader rjs come examples and links for both record setting high temperatures and consecutive days of high temperatures this March. […]

Guest post: America Shows No Increase in College Graduation Rates over the last 30 Years

Guest post by Kenneth Thomas America Shows No Increase in College Graduation Rates over the last 30 Years Jared Bernstein (via Paul Krugman) highlights an amazing breakdown in the prospects for reducing economic inequality any time soon. Over the last 30 years, the U.S. has made no progress whatsoever in increasing college graduation rates. To […]

ECB Rates Policy is Clogged in Key Periphery Markets

by Rebecca Wilder ECB Rates Policy is Clogged in Key Periphery Markets How the Euro area (EA) will grow, according to Mario Draghi: The outlook for economic activity should be supported by foreign demand, the very low short-term interest rates in the euro area, and all the measures taken to foster the proper functioning of […]

Explaining Why Low Tax Rates are Correlated with Slower Economic Growth, Once Again

by Mike Kimel Explaining Why Low Tax Rates are Correlated with Slower Economic Growth, Once Again One of the regular mysteries facing economists is why the US economy fails to display evidence of a relationship that everyone seems to accept implicitly, namely that lower taxes lead to (or even are correlated with) faster economic growth. […]

“Fear and Loathing” of Wall Street, 2012

by Jeff McCord of The Investor Advocate “Fear and Loathing” of Wall Street, 2012 To-date, the presidential primaries have studiously avoided reference to the unfolding catastrophe brought to the American public just four years ago by the financial services industry. The political issues contested thus far bring to mind Hunter Thompson’s reporting of the 1972 […]

Obama Finally Follows My Advice. Here’s One More Suggestion.

Okay, okay.  I know that Obama doesn’t read AB.  So I know that his decision, reflected in his speech today at a lunch with Associated Press editors and reporters, to finally—finally—start refuting the Republicans’ economics proposals with actual examples and statistics, was not prompted by my repeated laments here that Obama just doesn’t do specifics, i.e., […]

Supreme Court docket after the hearings on the ACA

The Supreme Court has chosen to be involved in many of the major issues during this election campaign.  From the NYT: … the court will hear arguments in a challenge to Arizona’s tough immigration law, and it will soon confront cases concerning affirmative action in higher education and a request to reconsider the Citizens United campaign finance decision. Cases […]