by Linda Beale Offshored Assets still in IRS cross-hairs but new disclosure program available As most who follow the issues are aware, the IRS has been focusing for some time on the foreign bank accounts of US taxpayers. The big break came when the IRS was able to get some data from UBS, including information […]
Arctic Sea Ice measurements are still being reported by the National Snow and Ice Data Center but are not much noted in the national press. Arctic sea ice extent in December 2011 averaged 12.38 million square kilometers (4.78 million square miles). This is the third lowest December ice extent in the 1979 to 2011 satellite […]
by Dale Coberly SOCIAL SECURITY AND BRAIN DAMAGE Liberals Destroy Social Security While Claiming Victory Republicans Cry “Please Not the Briar Patch, Br’er ‘Bama, please, please!” Robert Kuttner, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-kuttner/obama-social-security_b_1178904.html tells us that Obama has won a great victory by getting the Republicans to extend the payroll tax cut; SS “will be made whole from transfers […]
by Linda Beale Holman Jenkins’ Support for Job Destruction at Bain Capital Doesn’t Hold Up Holman Jenkins Jr. writes an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal: “The Truth about Bain and Jobs,” Jan. 14-15, 2012, Wall St. J. at A13. His first paragraph makes his bias in favor of “private equity” clear. He says any […]
INTRODUCTION 1) Rethug Speaker of the House John Boehner says that as a nation, “we’re broke“; Rethug presidential candidate Ron Paul claims America “should declare bankruptcy.” I say these two are liars, and at least one of them is crazy. 2) Tyler Cowan says “we are poorer than we think we are,” due to mis-measurement […]
I’ve noticed that many others, like me, are puzzled by the mechanics of the Saving=Investment accounting identity. How do household savings get instantly and perfectly intermediated, in a period, into investment spending — the purchase/creation of long-term productive fixed assets? An Aha! for me: According to Krugman’s textbook, they don’t. First a correction: “The savings[sic]-investment […]
Chris Bertram at Crookedtimber posted on a conference he attended (and Sandwichman, who hasn’t written to date) on the idea of working time reduction in response to keeping unemployment lower. The comments are worth a post to summarize, but at least this pointer is a start. Towards a 21-hour working week? by Chris Bertram Last […]
by Linda Beale Romney’s Tax Plan Helps the 1%, Hurts the Bottom 40% In spite of having to suffer some closer view of his Bain Capital time–during which the self-proclaimed “job creator” businessman did a lot of job cutting and destruction of going concerns so that his investors could make more money, Romney continues on […]
As you all have heard, Friday was (again) S&P’s day in the limelight. The rating agency downgraded over half of the 16 Euro area countries put on credit watch negative in December 2011. A quick look at my feed shows several takes on S&P’s action: the Economist’s Free Exchange comments on the now soft-core country, […]