PGL notes that the right-wing talking-point regarding the federal budget deficit – that the deficit is purely the result of out-of-control government spending, and that the deficit can be fixed by curtailing spending – is still being (ahem) liberally used. (Of course, some Bush-backers would argue that deficits don’t matter in the first place, but […]

Some things are almost true by definition. John Tamny has just discovered that inflation is a monetary phenomena. I guess we should at least thank him for this: This is so because the debate about the efficiency of markets versus central planning has been settled, and free markets are now a fact. The happy result […]

We earlier noted how we were awaiting a comment from Brad Setser on the Dark Matter excuse for not worrying about the current account deficit. Brad delivers with a very thorough discussion of the issue – including a transfer pricing explanation for the Net Income from Abroad Puzzle. OK, I’ll admit I just linked to […]

Just days after Kash reviewed the latest garbage from Treasury Secretary Snow, we see this: Driven by the cost of hurricane relief, the federal budget deficit is expected to balloon back above $400 billion for the fiscal year that ends in September, reversing the improvements of 2005, a White House official told reporters yesterday. But […]

This morning the BLS released its estimate of producer price inflation for December: The Producer Price Index for Finished Goods rose 0.9 percent in December, seasonally adjusted, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. This increase followed a 0.7-percent decline in November and a 0.7-percent gain in October. Prices […]

Nouriel Roubini draws our attention to a speech given by Tim Geithner (head of the NY Fed) yesterday. Roubini argues that this speech contained an assessment of the degree to which asset prices should be a factor in the conduct of monetary policy that was subtly but significantly different from the views offered by Greenspan […]

This morning Joe Biden suggested scrapping hearings on Supreme Court nominees: WASHINGTON – Supreme Court nominees are so mum about the major legal issues at their Senate confirmation hearings that the hearings serve little purpose and should probably be abandoned, Democratic Sen. Joe Biden said Thursday. “The system’s kind of broken,” said Biden, a member […]

Justin Fox thinks “corporate pensions are an unstable, unfair and economically perverse means of paying for retirement”: This phenomenon, along with the more dramatic cases of companies going bankrupt and defaulting on existing pension commitments (think United Airlines), has gotten tons of press, most of it of the “ain’t it a shame” variety. But the […]

There were two news releases this morning related to international trade. First, the BEA reported on the November trade deficit: The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, through the Department of Commerce, announced today that total November exports of $109.3 billion and imports of $173.5 billion resulted in a goods and […]

For those interested, here is the Bilmes and Stiglitz paper I referenced in my previous post: The Economic Costs of the Iraq War:An Appraisal Three Years After the Beginning of the Conflict Linda Bilmes, Kennedy School, Harvard University AndJoseph E. Stiglitz, University Professor, Columbia University