With the unemployment rate falling from 10.0 to 9.7 the employment report implies that the economy is in a transition phase.The period of widespread layoff and job cuts is over. So if you still have a job the odds ofyour losing it have roughly returned to normal. This change is reflected in the improvement inpersonal […]
by Linda Beale The Tax Foundation–at it again with bunk about overtaxed corporations Ok, I’m tired of it. Aren’t you? The Tax Foundation–an organization that claims bipartisanship but these days seems to be a shill for corporate managers and owners–is at it again, claiming that US businesses “are paying the second-highest corporate tax rate in […]
Robert Waldmann Matthew Yglesias discusses the financial crisis and the idea of causation. He shows that he was a philosophy major. I’m delighted. The question is whether the answer to the question “What caused the financial crisis?” is of the form “A, because if A had not been true, then there wouldn’t have been a […]
by Rebecca Wilder Japan to increase holding of US assets Here’s one that was tucked away in the Financial Times, Japan Post Bank urged to diversify holdings. With all of the talk about China, its currency, and the question of the Chinese “financing the U.S. deficit”, the media always forgets about Japan! From the FT: […]
Was 2009 a great year to be a bank? The headlines all say so. (The 140 U.S. banks that were closed by the FDIC last year may disagree some.) But, as Isabelle Kaminska of Alphaville notes, very little of the gains posted for last year came from anything related to talent: Deutsche Bank reported net […]
by cactus Real GDP per Capita and Tax Cuts, Top Marginal Income Tax Rate Edition One often hears that cutting marginal income tax rates, particularly on high individuals, leads to faster economic growth. Let’s dispense with argumentification, opinionizing and pontificatulationizing and graph us some data. Data for this post – top marginal rates from the […]
by Tom aka Rusty Rustbelt While Rome Burns, Nero Fiddles – Health Care Edition While the House and Senate were trying to overhaul the entire health care system, key Medicare regulations were left in limbo. Those provisions are still in limbo. Medicare physician reimbursement based on Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) have been controversial and generally […]
For those who missed it yesterday, Palace defeated the Wolves at Selhurst Park last night, 3-1 (only a goal in the 90th minute breaking the shutout) behind a hat trick from defenseman-moved-forward Danny Butterfield, who played a similar role in Saturday’s 2-0 win over Peterborough. Most interesting is this observation from Palace manager Neil Warnock: […]
Via my usual source, Citi has launched a blog. Kids, don’t try this at home. The highlight is “Help Us Build a New Citi”: Join the conversation about reform, recovery and responsible finance.Tell us what’s on your mind. Comments may be as many as 200 characters. Suggestions for comments welcome in comments here.
by Bruce Webb Well it looks like we are going to get a Deficit Commission and one way or another Social Security will be on the table. But what exactly does that mean for either Social Security or the total deficit picture? Before answering that lets review a couple of basics. In talking deficit reduction […]