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

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 […]

Extrapolated September 2010 Debt, by President

by Mike Kimel Extrapolated September 2010 Debt, by President Cross-posted at the Presimetrics blog. This one is quick and dirty because I’m very low on time…. Anyhow, these days there’s a lot of talk about the debt, and some talk about how irresponsible Obama is, or maybe its GW. Who knows, there’s a lotta talk […]

Unemployment extensions end soon

NELP (National Employment Law Project) notes: For administrative reasons, states need to shut down their extended unemployment programs in advance of the federal government’s Nov. 30 cut-off. NELP estimates that 800,000 people will lose unemployment benefits in the coming weeks and 2 million workers will lose their benefits by December if Congress fails to act. […]

The Congressional Oversight Committee on forclosures

The Washington Post notes more on foreclosures is coming, this time from The Congressional Oversight Committee today. No link yet. A congressional oversight panel is set to warn on Tuesday that a widespread problem of flawed and fraudulent foreclosure paperwork could upend the housing market and undermine the nation’s financial stability, just as the issue […]

Japanese Q3 2010 GDP growth hit it out of the ballpark but set to fall flat next quarter

The Japanese economy grew 3.9% at a seasonally-adjusted annualized rate in Q3 2010 and over 2X the pace in Q2 2010 (data here). According to Bloomberg, the headwinds to Q4 growth are household consumption and the yen: Consumption, accounting for about 60 percent of GDP, led the gain as households stepped up purchases of fuel-efficient […]