I was going to post something a couple of days ago on Greece’s derivatives deal, but knew I was missing a key piece. It became prominent yesterday, and Felix’s summary today gets it spot on: So while it’s entirely fair to blame Greece for trying to hide its debt, and to blame Eurostat for letting […]

Tom aka Rusty Rustbelt The Independent Contractor Problem Continues and Grows HT: Associated Press The IRS and many state governments are stepping up enforcement of the use of “independent contractors” who are actually employees. While there are plenty of legitimate business-to-business independent contractor arrangements, other businesses sidestep the law by misclassifying employees as ICs. (lay […]

What is a good approximation ?The word good is important but very general. One (long long ago) I pulled a hair out of my scalp and told Elisabetta Addis (we’re married) “look my first white hair.” She replied “you have a very good wife and a very bad mirror.” Odd the same event, failure to […]

Marshall Auerback responds to Rebecca’s “I have to side with China on this one”. There’s another factor as well. There’s been an enormous increase in money and credit in the past year. In fact, it seems to be as great as 5 years’ growth in credit in the previous Chinese bubble. What happens is that […]

Tamyra d’Ippolito has suddenly become a Very Important Person. She needs signatures primarily in Indian’s Eighth District (currently represented by Brad Ellsworth, who would be the Party’s pick to replace Evan Bayh), Evansville, and Terre Haute. She has a background to make a Tea Partier proud: I was born in Worthington, Indiana and raised in […]

by Rebecca Wilder China,China.China! Why does the world care about Chinese monetary policy? In short, the ten countries below enjoy 60% of China’s import demand ($1.3 trillion annualized in December 2009), where the % are listed in the legend. The globe is watching Chinese policy. The People’s Republic of China raised bank reserve requirements another […]

by Linda Beale Congress appears doomed to fail on Jobs Creation Legislation The House passed a puny measure worth about $154 billion over a decade. The Senate, strangled by the GOP party of no, appears set to pass a bill that does almost nothing and costs only about $15 billion over a decade. See Deal […]

Simon Johnson on the possible consequences of Goldman Going Greek. Economics of Contempt explains why economist John Cochrane should not be allowed to talk about finance. (Bonus coverage: EofC’s previous piece on John Taylor) Alea’s jck on how all the talk about risk management became mainstreamed.

If I’m reading this link from my usual news source correctly, Joseph Stiglitz’s new book Freefall: America, Free Markets, and the Sinking of the World Economy is being sold in France under the title Le triomphe de la cupidité (The Triumph of Greed). The sole B&N customer review so far is a confused jumble: If […]

by Bruce Webb It is a very common trope among the Right to claim that Obama is a Socialist. For Progressives with any awareness of modern history and politics this seems ludicrous, it is hard to see that Obama is even committed to the principles of the New Deal, still less the second coming of […]