by Dale Coberly Eyes on the Prize A Social Security summary. We have had twenty years and a billion dollars spent by Pete Peterson and friends telling the people that Social Security is going broke and will create huge deficits that will kill the economy and be a crushing burden to the young. Peterson has […]
by Mike Kimel Prices and Quantity for Whale Oil and Whale BoneCross posted at the Presimetrics blog. The following graph shows the price and quantity of Sperm whale oil (which is actually more of a wax). Figure 1 The positive correlation is a bit of a problem, and the fact that Quantity seems to lead […]
Snow today and tomorrow Reporting in so far from Mass., Rhode Island, Ohio, New York, Michigan, Illinois, on the snow storm surging across a third of the US. No pictures yet. Dan B. says: I’ve had enough. Between plowing my office, the shop, the home and mom’s. Then snow blowing the piles to make room […]
Just how easy is it to use FRED ? I will find out starting four minutes ago, I am trying to set up a FRED account and generate a graph of interest (CPI inflation and nominal wage inflation plotted on time). I have an account. 19 minutes in. I have downloaded data. Not the data […]
The NYT reports today of further developments in the Middle East. Jordan’s Royal Palace says the king has sacked his government in the wake of street protests and has asked an ex-army general to form a new Cabinet. King Abdullah’s move comes after thousands of Jordanians took to the streets — inspired by the regime […]
Mandate Up by The Bell offers some advice to his readers on the mood of the country: Their Promised Approach to Governance Didn’t Work Out So Well for the Last Guys During one of their debates, Nevada Tea Party Senatorial candidate Sharon Angle famously told Majority Leader Harry Reid to “Man up!” meaning he needed […]
Yves Smith at Naked Capitalism offers wise words regarding trade policy agreements and capital flows, in addition to pointing us toward a letter signed by several hundreds of economists regarding capital controls and government.: This letter is at odds with a longstanding project of major financial firms: to allow them to move money across borders […]
Simon Johnson at Baseline Scenario notes that (bolding mine) On the fringes of the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos this week, there was plenty of substantive discussion – including about the dangers posed by our “too big to fail”/”too big to save” banks, the consequences of widening inequality (reinforced by persistent unemployment in some […]
This outstanding article about preventive care for high cost patients is outside the New Yorker paywall. It is very much worth reading. Like Ezra Klein, I found one of the drier examples very informative The firm had already raised the employees’ insurance co-payments considerably [skip] employee health costs continued to rise—climbing almost ten per cent […]