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

On Real Wealth Accumulation Since 2001

Via Mark Thoma comes a study by Brian K. Bucks, Arthur B. Kennickell, and Kevin B.Moore on the decline in average real household income and the very modest increase in real household wealth. Their study also shows that wealth inequality has increased. As Tom Bozzo notes: Also, the low official savings rate, which gets pooh-poohed […]

Oil Prices and the Windfall Arrogance Tax

Arnold Kling writes: If the oil company executives want to put money on their “working assumption of $15-$30 per barrel,” then they should go short in the futures market. But if their goal is to maximize shareholder wealth, then they should make long-term investment planning decisions based on the futures price of about $60 a […]

Inflation Report

Yesterday’s CPI release showed that inflation continues to gallop ahead at a rather high rate, though once again, most of the rise was attributable to higher energy prices. Marketwatch offers this assessment: WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — U.S. consumer prices increased a larger-than-expected 0.7% in January, led by higher energy, food and housing costs, the Labor Department […]

Fuzzchart Flip-flops on the Gold Bug Issue

Jerry Bowyer has finally written something that makes a little sense: This debate has been going on for more than a year between supply-siders — the gold-first crowd on one side, the bond-market/interest-rate/gold-also crowd on the other. Meanwhile, each month the consumer price index comes out with a relatively low reading. If the accuracy of […]

Confusing a Metaphor with the Real Thing

“We’re at war.” “During this time of war…” “While this country is at war…” I’m tired of hearing such statements while referring to the “War on Terror”. Because they indicate a fundamental confusion between a metaphor and a real war. And on this President’s Day, I can’t help but think about how this confusion has […]

Pat Roberts: FISA Flip-flopping

Kevin Drum is hoping Senator Roberts does the right thing: Apparently Roberts now feels not only that his committee should be briefed, but that the program itself should be overseen by the FISA court. If Roberts follows up on this, then good for him. On both scores, I have my doubts. CNN is still suggesting […]

Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics: The Free Lunch Fools at the White House

Mark Thoma points to two examples of fiscal dishonesty from the Bush Administration. First up is Allan “not Glenn” Hubbard abusing statistics to suggest that the Health Savings Accounts proposal is not just another tax cut for the rich. Edwin Park and Robert Greenstein document how Mr. Hubbard’s claims are misleading. Next up is an […]

Has Congress Reduced Spending for the Poor?

AB reader Greg W. alerts us to some spin from Brian Riedl of the Heritage Foundation: During the 2005 budget reconciliation debate, crit¬ics trotted out the tired old myth that Republicans were cutting spending for the poor to pay for tax cuts for the rich. Many commentators accepted this as truth and repeated it, including […]

Democrats See the Glass as Half Full

Could someone help Thomas Nugent with his writing: Obviously, the out-of-power Democrats on the committee see the glass as half full, so one would have expected them to focus on the less successful economic statistics that characterize this economy. They didn’t disappoint, although their rendering of economic data once again proved they have no idea […]

Interest Rates: The Very Long View

I liked a picture that Barry Ritholtz put up the other day showing interest rates over the past half century or so, and it got me to thinking. In particular, I wondered which was more anomalous: the clear upward trend in interest rates during the period 1965-1982, or the clear downward trend in interest rates […]