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

EA Balance of Payments: the Current Account

by Rebecca Wilder EA Balance of Payments: the Current Account I’ve been doing quite a bit of research on the balance of payments flows within the Euro Area (EA). Given the complexity of the balance of payments, there are too many angles to tackle in one post. Therefore, spanning the next week I will dedicate […]

Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s Strange Political Prediction—And Other Recent ACA-Litigation Events

by Beverly Mann Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s Strange Political Prediction—And Other Recent ACA-Litigation Events Well, as you all probably know by now, there have been two major developments in the courts within the last two weeks on the litigation challenging the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (the ACA, a.k.a., “Obamacare). On November […]

Education with a Twist—An Oliver Twist

by run 75441 In response to Newt Gingrich’s comments on failing schools, work, and rising bootstraps, Peter Dorman at Econospeak replies in: Education with a Twist—An Oliver Twist” “why take it out on the janitors? If the school was failing it wasn’t their fault. According to Gingrich, it’s the teachers who can’t make the grade. […]

Gerrymandering the Jobs Bill

op ed by run75441 Think Progress offers a look at relevant parts of the ‘jobs bill’. In the US, the winds of Washington Politics don’t blow, they suck. Gerrymandering the Jobs Bill: “The piece of the jobs bill Republicans will pass would end a requirement that the government withhold three percent of the cost of […]

Health and (or rather of) the Gingrich Campaign

All You Need to Know about Newt The Gingrich health center’s support for such a mandate was part of an “Insure All Americans” plan that appears to have disappeared from the center’s Web site Thursday. See that there is nothing here http://www.healthtransformation.net/cs/insure_all_americans But it is still here Key quote Require that anyone who earns more […]

The Gold Index, April 1933 – February 1934, Courtesy of Scott Sumner

By Mike Kimel The Gold Index, April 1933 – February 1934, Courtesy of Scott Sumner I’ve been having a bit of a back and forth with Scott Sumner of The Money Illusion over the degree to which monetary policy, in particular the devaluation of the dollar, affected the economy in 1933. (My most recent post […]

Comments on Inequality, Leverage, and Crises

Clifford Clark’s post at ataxingmatter* is worth a more complete look. This also brings to mind Steve Keen’s work on private debt and the economy on his blog Debt Watch as well as Lane Kenworthy’s exploration of poverty and severe poverty at Consider the Evidence, and Angry Bear Robert Waldmann’s recent posts here and here. […]