by Stormylifted from an e-mail The difference between automation and outsourcing becomes stylistically blurred in this NYT’s piece: During the recession, domestic manufacturers appear to have accelerated the long-term move toward greater automation, laying off more of their lowest-skilled workers and replacing them with cheaper labor abroad. Since when is outsourcing a form of automation? […]

by Bruce WebbFollowing up on the publication of CBO’s Long Term Budget Outlook (see previous two of my posts) CBO yesterday published Social Security Policy Options (Summary for Web) and Social Security Policy Options (Full 51 pg PDF) scoring various revenue and spending cut measures that have been proposed for Social Security. The included Table […]

Robert Waldmann Atrios vs Bernanke. OK so I agreed with Atrios about Greenspan (just below). Now I disagree with him about Bernanke. He equates loans with gifts. He equates worse than optimal with worse than nothing (dealing with free market fanatics can cause one to overlook the difference). Bernanke could have sent money from the […]

CNBC reports Greenspan … added that the financial crisis could not have been foreseen. “It is just not feasible to forecast a financial crisis,” he said. “A financial crisis by definition is a sharp abrupt, unexpected decline in asset prices.” Notice that he says if it is unexpected, then it *can’t* be forecast. That is […]

by Beverly Mannoriginally posted at the Annarborist Paul Clement, In Appreciation Each year as the Supreme Court’s term ends in late June, Slate’s main legal-issues writer, Dahlia Lithwick joins with Walter Dellinger, head of mega law firm O’Mebeny & Meyers’ national appellate practice, and a former head of the Office of Legal Counsel in the […]

by Tom aka Rusty Rustbelt HEALTH CARE: Mrs. Rustbelt is Grouchy Mrs. Rustbelt (aka the world’s great nurse) is a paragon of competence, compassion, service and self-sacrifice. When grandma is ill you want Mrs. R to be granny’s nurse. She routinely gets letters and call from families praising her work, and this is the only […]

Robert Waldmann The www.washington.com Headline and abstract person has outdone himself or herself writing CBO sees debt estimates soar Analysts say health law has not improved budget and Obama’s tax agenda will make things worse. Lori Montgomery As Kevin Drum says always click the link. Lori Montgomery actually wrote President Obama’s overhaul of the health-care […]

Under CBO’s ‘Extended Baseline’, i.e. roughly Current Law the 75 year actuarial gap is up to 1.6% from 1.3% and the date of Trust Fund Exhaustion moved back from 2043 to 2039. Under the ‘Alternative Fiscal Scenario’ the corresponding numbers are 2.1% and 2037 or right in line with the Social Security Trustees 2009 projections. […]

by Bruce Webb CBO Director’s Blog summary of Long Term Budget Outlook (Interesting side comment: “Later this week, CBO will release a report on a number of different policy options for changing Social Security”). Elmendorf, not surprising given his history and current job, is fully on the side of the deficit hawk/hysterics. Report text (1.2MB […]