There will be plenty of reactions to the draft release of the fiscal draft proposal, but one caught my eye as I just came home. Reader HW at TPM has this reaction I took a very quick look at this document and what’s amazing to me is that they came up with these draconian cuts […]
Some of the recommendations as outlined by TPM from the Pres. Obama’s Bowles and Simpson fiscal commission: Social Security cuts: Index the retirement age to longevity — i.e., increase the retirement age to qualify for Social Security — to age 69 by 2075. Index Social Security yearly increases to inflation rather than wages, which will […]
Spencer The New York Times had blog commenting on the suggestion that we should return to a gold standard. (NYT Back to the gold standard) My question about such a proposal is what should be the price of gold in the new gold standard ? The 18th century gold standard system that so many people […]
The Federal Statistics Office reported that German consumer prices increased 0.2% on a seasonally-adjusted basis in October, translating into a 1.3% annual gain on a harmonized basis. German prices are very sticky, since the domestic economy doesn’t see the boom and bust cyclical behavior like that in other developed economies. However, inflation may headed north, […]
by Mike Kimel Post WW2 Private Investment v. New Deal Private InvestmentCross posted at the Presimetrics blog. I had a post the other day (which appeared at the Presimetrics blog and Angry Bear, and which was followed up by my fellow Angry Bear, Spencer, here) looking at a paper by David R. Henderson about the […]
A battle to keep using rare earths on our terms by Tim Worstall in The Register points to a facet of trade policy that would seem to demand some government action…I fail to see why trans-national companies would feel a need to act at least currently to implement more modern technology (or search for an […]
by Linda Beale David Cay Johnston on the Child-Care Credit crossposted with Ataxingmatter David Cay Johnston, former tax reporter for the New York Times, now does a column in the weekly Tax Notes called “Johnston’s Take.” This week, he examines Alan Viard’s claim that the child-care credit is a boon for working parents. Download Who […]
How many of you read Frank Rich In the Sunday New York Times? http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/07/opinion/07rich.html?_r=1 It is an interesting approach. But I would do him one better. I would suggest to Obama that he offers the Republicans a deal for the Bush tax cuts for those making more than $250,000. Offer to sign legislation for this […]
by Bruce Webb A year and a half ago I put up a post here called The Fierce Urgency of ‘Nothing’ whose conclusion was: “Nothing”. The numerically proven plan for Social Security since 1997. So you can imagine my gratification at running across the following by the co-author of the must read book from 1999 […]
lifted from comments by spencer on Mike Kimel’s post Very bad economic theory (historiography) From Real Civilian GDP in July this year. From 1933 to 1950 real civilian GDP grew at a 5.6% growth rate even though it fell -18.4% and -14.8% in 1943 and 1944 — a decline about the same as the drop […]