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

Banks walk away from houses

Tom aka Rusty Rustbelt The Un-foreclosure What could be worse than a foreclosure? An Un-foreclosure (HT: Columbus Dispatch) also known as a dropped foreclosure or a bank walkaway. Although exact statistics are hard to come by, the un-foreclosure is apparently become very common in Ohio, Michigan and Indiana. At some point the bank decides the […]

Open thread Nov.19, 2010

Premise: The difference between the Irish and U.S. situation is in the breadth of institutions (smaller financial institutions still intermediate and control capital usage), not the foolishness of the leaders in committing to make the banks whole. Discuss.

Should we bemoan the fact that employment and earnings aren’t the key trickle-down mechanism?

Hat tip Economist’s View for Lane Kenworthy’s post on growing the GDP and distribution of the benefits. It is also related to concpts determining trade policies: None of these countries significantly increased the share of GDP going to government transfers. What happened is that some nations did more than others to pass the fruits of […]

Tax cuts and deficit commissions

by Linda Beale Tax cuts and deficit commissionscrossposted with Ataxingmatter The game continues, as Republicans hold out for tax cuts for the wealthy (who are garnering increasing amounts of the total income) and various “deficit commissions” put out austerity plans that all call for cutting Social Security benefits and Medicare benefits. Alice Rivlin, who spoke […]

The Impact of Health Insurance Reform in Massachusetts

On Econbrowser last week: The Impact of Health Insurance Reform in Massachusetts The use of emergency rooms for routine care fell, as did hospital admissions for treating preventable conditions, and the proportion of uninsured among hospital inpatients (by 36%), while there was no increase in the growth of hospital costs. From the NBER Digest article […]

It’s Back! H.R. 3808 Interstate Recognition of Notarization Act of 2010

It’s Back! H.R. 3808 Interstate Recognition of Notarization Act of 2010…simply a watch and see item after the pocket veto by Pres. Obama, to be voted on today for confirming or overturning the veto, noted by 4closureFraud. Update: Voting in the House was pretty much by party…results are here.

Brad DeLong on Economists (and non-economists)

by Linda Beale Brad DeLong on Economists (and non-economists)crossposted with Ataxingmatter In Economists (and Non-Economists) Behaving Very Badly Indeed Watch, Brad DeLong accosts the austerity bandwagon that objects to any more federal stimulus, whether from Congress or from the Fed. At the moment our flow of nominal spending at $14.7 trillion per year is some […]