by Mike Kimel Via asymptosis this cartoon….

by Linda Beale Repatriation Holiday Lobbying–Money Speaks… We’ve discussed repatriation before–the tax break being pushed by multinationals who want to bring some of their offshore profits home without paying taxes, as they did in the 2004 “one time only” repatriation break. The reason they have so much money offshore is that they use gimmicks–such as […]

White House Launches “We the People” Platform on Website On Sept. 22, the White House launched the “We the People” platform on its website. The platform is designed to encourage ideas from citizens, and if a petition on the site is signed by 5,000 people or more, the White House promises to lift it up […]

by Mike Kimel I had a few posts noting that not long ago, I took a severance package from my most recent employer. Put another way, I’m now unemployed. Since then I’ve been looking for a new job. However, in recent weeks I’ve started taking consulting work, and I’m starting to lean more toward consulting. […]

In this excellent post, John Quiggin somewhat understates his claim The key passage “the same fundamental confusion I pointed out last time, trying to claim that rationality assumptions are both important and unfalsifiable.” and later at greater length “Williamson wants to have his cake and eat it. Most of the time he wants to help […]

By Rebecca Wilder This ‘Competitiveness’ Thing Is a Scam What is ‘competitiveness’? It’s an important part of the euro area leaders’ negotiated terms in the July 21st Summit announcement by the European Heads of State. The first paragraph, #4, and #11 of the announcement all refer to this issue of ‘competitiveness’: We also reaffirm our […]

by Michael Halasey Free market mechanics and healthcare… Now, I hear something all the time in my work in the health policy realm, and that is that the “free market” could lower prices. I even recently had someone approach me after I mentioned that the PPACA had resulted in an extra million people aged 18-25 […]

The lead article in the current AER is available here (gated, apparently, though the link isn’t working; h/t Tom Bozzo [on FB] and Brad DeLong; I was using the paper copy). The most interesting part so far: the authors only considered the documented costs of air pollution—not land, not water—in deriving the (embarrassingly negative) ROI […]

Brad DeLong points us to a post from The Nation on early Koch brothers and Hayek The Road to Serfdom!! Yasha Levine and Mark Ames: Charles Koch to Friedrich Hayek: Use Social Security!: [I]n early June 1973, weeks after [Charles] Koch was appointed president of the Institute for Humane Studies. Along with his brothers, Koch […]