Anyone who was in the MBS market and not working for a primary originator can tell you that the MBS securitization market ended around Halloween 2006. (Those of us who were at places with origination go a few more months, but had no flow by February.) Only economists were fooled by what I’ve been calling […]

Reuters reports that the mainstream Republican Party has decided to jump the shark admit it is insane: David Frum, a former speechwriter for President George W. Bush and a Republican advocate for raising the debt limit, said he holds regular question-and-answer sessions with Republican congressman over a beer. “I have yet to meet one Republican […]

by run75441 “The Medicare Sky Is Falling” Chicken Little, Courtesy of “EW.Com Entertainment Weekly” A recently released Medicare Trustees report detailing the insolvency of Medicare HI has been used by conservatives and supporting news media to call again for an overhaul or privatization of Medicare to save healthcare for those on Medicare. “The gravest threat […]

by Mike Kimel Eat Your Heart Out PZ Myers Now that is what you call an octopus. Eat your heart out PZ Myers.

It’s not that the data is different; it’s the interpretation. For instance, Brad DeLong’s What Obama Needs to Do is three(or four) fine suggestions, one point (2) that hasn’t worked yet but bears repeating, and a moment (5) of hope that really does required Congressional action, as Stan Collender noted today. But the three good […]

It was bound to happen… House Republicans propose Social Security opt-out by Pete Kasperowicz – House Republicans on Friday introduced legislation that would allow workers to partially opt out of Social Security immediately, and fully opt out after 15 years. Rep. Pete Sessions (R-NY), who chairs the National Republican Congressional Committee, and several other Republicans […]

by Mike Kimel Predicting Recessions, The Great Stagnation, and Will There Be a Double Dip? There’s a lot of talk about a double dip recession these days. I don’t think there’s a precise definition of a double dip recession, but I think if there was it would be something like this: “a recession, followed by […]

by Mike Kimel An excellent post by Simon Johnson. The managing director of the IMF is the impresario of any bailout. The big decisions must be negotiated with all significant stakeholders but this still leaves enormous scope for discretion. If Ms. Lagarde becomes managing director she can directly influence the terms of IMF involvement – […]

by Linda Beale Congressional Progressive Caucus People’s Budget beats Ryan’s corporatist budget by a long shot, but doesn’t get media coverage FAIR has a good point on the way the media have covered the US budget debates. Fact is, the radical right wing budget proposed by radical right Ryan gets lots of coverage. FAIR noted […]

Health Care Thoughts: Non-Compliant Patients Ask physicians and nurses about their biggest clinical problems and non-compliant patients will likely be near the top of the list. And why should we care? Because non-compliant patients are huge cost drivers. Ezekiel Emanuel (MD, PhD, NIH) estimates that one-third of U.S. health care costs are driven by diabetes, […]