Republicans are crazier than I imagine possible even taking into account the fact that they are crazier than I imagine possible. Concept due to Brad Delong It appears that the debt ceiling deal under consideration includes $ 1 trillion in cuts, no tax increases and setting up a committee to pretend that there will be […]

(cross-posted from Skippy, The Bush Kangaroo. Just because.)

Next week the Bureau of Economic Analysis will release its estimate of Q2 US GDP growth. Of 69 economists polled, the bloomberg consensus is that the US economy grew at a 1.8% annualized rate spanning the months of April to June over January to March. In all, this quarterly growth rate implies just 1.9% annualized […]

by Mike Kimel Revisiting the Cactus Theory of Development Tyler Cowen links to this paper by this paper by Allen, Murphy and Schneider (warning, PDF!!). Cowen notes: It is a common view that North America had to play catch-up, but the extensive data sets in this paper suggest that North American wages were up to […]

Even the normally level-headed Buce—who knows better and lets us know he knows better—tries to give Tyler Cowen’s broadside at Fannie and Freddie the benefit of some (contrived) doubt.  I’ve already screamed about the legerdemain of Cowen’s post elsewhere, so let’s go for the philosophical underpinnings. Let’s give some ground first.  Buce is spot-on with: […]

Will those who are claiming that the economy is recovering and things are better please explain why, as of today, we have sixteen straight weeks of “seasonally adjusted” UI claims above 400,000? I’m now convinced that there will be no troop reductions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, or any of the other places where we’re conducting […]

Rebecca Wilder has shifted to publishing her insightful articles on Europe back to her Newsneconomics platform, but will continue to publish on US topics and US/Europe connections on Angry Bear. I think that the shift is smart…the audience for Angry Bear is focused more on the US and as the election cycle is already quite […]

by Daniel Becker Being that we’re about to experience austerity because we are convinced we can’t spend money properly such that we actually end up with more after rather than less …  which is very depressing to me and defeatist in presentation, I present my new theme song:  That’s how it goes. I just find […]