Today we are continuing to look at the historical tax tables to see how we viewed and possibly defined rich. I introduced this idea with my post: Defining Rich III. I found a source for all sorts of historical data from the Census Bureau. You can down load it or the better way is […]
by Peter Dorman(reposted from Econospeak with author”s permission) Wealth and Antisocial Behavior: Reverse Causality? There is quite a bit of buzz about this just-prepublished article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Here is the abstract: Seven studies using experimental and naturalistic methods reveal that upper-class individuals behave more unethically than lower-class individuals. […]
by Linda Beale It’s Almost April so Tax Tips Are Flowering You can tell when it is getting close to the April filing deadline for individual calendar-year taxpayers. All of the major tax firms release their “handy tax tips” to entice new clients for this tax season.The American Institute of CPA’s handy tips (released Mar.1, […]
Anti-taxers love to haul out the legendary napkin-inscribed Laffer curve to demonstrate that lower taxes would yield more government revenue. But this ploy only works because they assume that we’re at or past the high point — that higher taxes would move us down the right slope. (Note the cross-marks-the-spot in the image here?) But […]
Modern Macroeconomic Methodology Seems to be quite the topic yesterday. I wrote this about a week ago and maybe it’s time to post it. Modern Macroeconomic Methodology (MMM) rests on two pillars: Milton Friedman’s methodology of positive economics and the Lucas critique. The problem is that an alternative possible title for “Econometric Policy Evaluation: A […]
Highlights from the transcript of Rush Limbaugh’s uber-viral Wednesday diatribe against Sandra Fluke (in case y’all missed it): What does it say about the college co-ed Sandra Fluke, who goes before a congressional committee and essentially says that she must be paid to have sex, what does that make her? It makes her a slut, right? It makes her a […]
Barry Ritholtz, who generally knows better, blew a gasket at ISDA for yesterday’s ruling that Greek bonds are not yet in default. Specifically, “The International Swaps and Derivatives Association said on Thursday that based on current evidence the Greek bailout would not prompt payments on the credit default swaps.” > Here is a question for […]
Health Care Thoughts: Assaults on Nurses – Celebrity Edition by Tom aka Rusty Rustbelt(updated author to clarify) Assaults on nurses are a growing problem, with emergency department nurses in the most danger, followed closely by nurses caring for the mentally ill, substance abusers and elderly patients with dementia problems. It takes a Kennedy though to assault […]
I did a couple of posts a while back asking (and concluding) what would result from the Fed ending their interest on reserves policies. (Not suggesting they do so — just wondering what the effects of that one change would be.) I got a lot of good answers and discussion, but nobody mentioned the very […]