In a NY Times op-ed, Rob Parenteau and Yves Smith reminded us that the private sector financial balance is a function of the household financial balance and the corporate financial balance. They concluded the following regarding excess corporate saving: So instead of pursuing budget retrenchment, policymakers need to create incentives for corporations to reinvest their […]
Robert Waldmann In the New York Times Amy Harmon has a long and fascinating article on the ethics of medical experiments on humans. She considers the argument that it is unethical to have a control group which doesn’t get the wonderful new experimental treatment. I just note that the ethical rule imposed by the FDA […]
Robert Waldmann I am generally reluctant to make predictions. However, I am willing to predict that the cost of TARP will be less than forecast by the CBO. I should point out that forecasts of the cost have declined. The reason is that the CBO values TARP assets at “fair market value” which means the […]
Robert Waldmann Worthwhile Canadian point. Nick Rowe looks at Catherine Rampell’s graph, which everyone has been talking about, and notes the dog that didn’t bark. Very few small businessmen are complaining about the quality of labor. This basically proves that the argument that the incerase in unemployment is due to missmatch is wrong. If the […]
The point of the first chart, I believe, is that as our navel power decreases Chinese navel power increases. But that aspect needs to be described carefully as the chart does not explain the differences in navies between the two countries. The point of the second chart is to demonstrate the conundrum of manpower expenses […]
The Economist 28 Aug 2010 unattributed article: Updated correct link: link to article is here, h/t Movie Guy The chronic problem of exorbitantly expensive weapons is becoming acute. Robert Gates, America’s defence secretary, has ordered that production of the F-22 should end this year, capping the fleet at 187—a final cull for the Raptor, whose […]
From Tom Dispatch a quiz: With President Obama’s announced July 2011 drawdown of U.S. troops in Afghanistan in mind, the Pentagon has already: a. Begun organizing an orderly early 2011 withdrawal of troops from combat outposts and forward operating bases to larger facilities to facilitate the president’s plan. b. Launched a new U.S. base-building binge […]
Robert Waldmann Matthew Yglesias has a post on poverty which is, shall we say, very different from my post on severe poverty below. In particular he wrote We then had a giant reduction in poverty among this group [female-headed households without husbands] in the 1990s which was a combination of strong economic performance, “welfare reform,” […]
Elizabeth Warren’s Greatest Hits from MoveOn.org Official Channel on Vimeo.