Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.

Rumsfeld

I’m working on a big Social Security post, but in the meantime, can we fire Don Rumsfeld yet? CNN personnel who have visited the base [where at least 19 troops, as well as others, were killed] said the dining area is a tent-like facility with no hardened protection — and that soldiers had specifically raised […]

Israel-Palestine Accord from a Series of Unfortunate Events?

David Brooks’ latest New York Times oped makes no sense to Juan Cole: David Brooks has a glib op-ed today in the New York Times in which he celebrates a moment of hope in the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. He suggests that all the factors analysts have been complaining about– the hegemony of the Likud in Israel, […]

Bush on the “Outdated” Social Security system

In President Bush’s surprise news conference, he was testy about fielding questions as to what his Social Security deform proposals would look like. But he did explain WHY we needed to have Social Security deform: There’s more we must do to keep this economy flexible, innovative and competitive in the world. In a time of […]

The Performance of Chile’s Retirement Privatization

Jose Pinera’s Retiring in Chile states: Since the system started on May 1, 1981, the average real return on the personal accounts has been 10 percent a year. The Performance of the Funded Pension Systems in Latin America by Juan Yermo, which can found on this page discusses the privatized retirement plans of various Latin […]

I Guess We All Knew This Already…

…but now it’s official. Newsweek: Dec. 18 – Just two weeks after the September 11 attacks, a secret memo to White House counsel Alberto Gonzales’ office concluded that President Bush had the power to deploy military force “preemptively” against any terrorist groups or countries that supported them—regardless of whether they had any connection to the […]

Hardball Takes a Nosedive on the Soc. Sec. Debate

OK, with Stephen Moore v. Robert Reich, I was not expecting much from Wednesay’s show , but this is beneath pathetic: MATTHEWS: Two top economic minds are with me here, Stephen Moore, president of the Club For Growth, a conservative political action committee, and Robert Reich, labor secretary in the Clinton administration and now professor […]

A Classic Finance Paper for the Soc. Sec. Privatization Crowd

When I read opinion pieces such as this one: HE LOST US BEFORE HE’D FINISHED A SENTENCE: Buying Into Failure (PAUL KRUGMAN, December 17, 2004, NY Times) “As the Bush administration tries to persuade America to convert Social Security into a giant 401(k)…” Why wouldn’t anyone who has a 401k–which is well over 40 million […]

Kevin Drum on Reagan’s Fiscal Policy

I agree with most of this piece from Political Animal as it is true that the Reagan deficits were reversed mainly be tax rate increases. But one of his sentences is only partially true: But even with those seven tax increases and several years of strong growth, he still didn’t get rid of his deficit. […]

A Difference of Opinion

Many economists think that a further significant depreciation of the US dollar is likely in the not-too-distant future. Apparently a lot of Europeans disagree. Yesterday’s BEA data on the US’s balance of payments in the third quarter of 2004 highlights the fact that Europeans have continued to buy US dollar assets in amazingly large quantities. […]

Allen Sloan Gets Federal Budget Accounting Right (Soc. Sec.)

I highly recommend this oped, which sensibly concludes: This brings us back to personal Social Security accounts. Every dollar that goes into those accounts rather than into the Treasury is an extra dollar that Uncle Sam has to borrow. So if we’re going to keep up cash accounting for the government, let’s be consistent. If […]