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

Inflation verses relative price changes

It is starting to look like the cyclical bottom in inflation may be at hand. But there is much confusion over current price changes. There are two types of price changes to consider. One is the change in relative prices. The other is the change in the overall price level, or inflation. Currently we are […]

Social Security and Pie!

Why? Just because. Plus Dean was warning about some sort of housing bubble at the time. How nutty was that? Plus my best buddy just starting out on his pie: WaPO: WHAT CRISIS?: It Ain’t Broke, So No Need To Fix ItSunday, January 23, 2005; Page B02 By Mark Weisbrot and Dean Baker, The latest […]

Offshore bank accounts–getting riskier

by Linda Beale Offshore bank accounts–getting riskiercrossposted with Ataxingmatter As I noted in an earlier posting, the IRS has continued its focus on secret offshore bank accounts. Naturally, the media covers this issue for their wealthy readers who are following the IRS’s every action in this matter. See, e.g., Paul Sullivan, Hiding Money Overseas? You’re […]

Social Media: Is the Boss a Bleep?

by Tom aka Rusty Rustbelt Social Media: Is the Boss a Bleep? The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) forced a settlement on American Medical Response of Connecticut Inc. after AMR fired an employee (and Teamsters member) who went home from work and profanely blasted her supervisor as being mentally ill on Facebook. Other employees posted […]

Medical Malpractice Reform: Truth in Advertising Needed

Guest post by Michael Halasy, Practicing Emergency Medicine PA, Health Policy Analyst, and Health Services Researcher Medical Malpractice Reform: Truth in Advertising Needed (Part One of Three) Medical malpractice liability reform (Tort Reform) has been a hotly contested item for years, as the GOP, with physician support, has continued to market this as a health […]

Laurence Tribe on the ACA … and the Supreme Court justices

by Beverly Mann Laurence Tribe on the ACA … and the Supreme Court justices Argggh. In rereading my comment from yesterday to Bruce’s “Health Care ACA Act: Who does the Roberts Court Work For?” post, I realized that there’s a major part of my comment that’s, well, missing: the part that explains why I started […]

Measuring GDP Growth

Only rarely do I think that Kevin Drum would benefit from having studied economics more in college. He almost always seems to understand economics issues better than most professional economists. Therefore I jump on an error, which, I suspect must be very widespread if Drum made it. He wrote the contribution of the airline industry […]