by Linda Beale(cross posted at ataxingmatter) One can question the timing of implementation, but can one argue against the financing? …Rdan War taxes? Since Bush invaded Afghanistan in 2001 (and then, Iraq), we have been paying for war as an afterthought. In the Bush era attempt to treat war as something that happened “over there” […]

So the Sen Ten have reached a secret deal. The main points seem to be that the public option is replaced by an sub – exchange of private non profit insurers (which is very close to nothing at all) and people from 55 to 65 can buy into Medicare. I was going to give a […]

Robert Waldmann Has a thought about how to get votes for a cap and trade bill in the Senate without giving a windfall to incumbent polluters. The problem is that it seems to be necessary to buy the votes of coal state legislators. The House’s solution is to give C02 permits to current polluters. This […]

Russ Roberts could at least pretend that Amity Shlaes (B.A., English Literature) had written a book related to economics, no matter how badly contrived and poorly researched it was. But what’s his excuse for this (B.A., English Literature, Penn; MBA Chicago)? Sadly, it appears he has stopped even pretending to be interested in economics, and […]

by cactus Comparing Presidents – Real GDP per Capita, late 2009 edition Every so often I find I have to rewrite a post about how well Presidents have done at producing economic growth. See, over time, we get new readers, and some of the, based on what I read in comments or in e-mails I […]

While Henry and Brad DeLong noted some more silly prattling from a brain-dead economist, AB readers and those wanting to maintain their sanity* will prefer The New Decembrists, and new blog from The Epicurean Dealmaker and, presumably, others. Worth it for TED’s Reformist Manifesto alone. *I do not necessarily assume that either of these sets […]

Cross-posted at News N Economics blog, by Rebecca Here’s yet another historical record broken in 2009: “Only three insured institutions were chartered in the [third] quarter, the smallest quarterly total since World War II.” This fact is from the FDIC’s latest Quarterly Banking Profile. There are probably non-economic reasons for this, i.e., the application process […]

Larry Summers’s Village Idiot: I was too right to give them EVERYTHING! And now they’re being MEAN to me.

Dean Baker asks a central question: If Bernanke Did Not Know the Fed’s Mission, Would That Be News? Not at the WSJ, nor it seems anywhere else. Yesterday, Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke referred to the “our dual mandate, which is growth and inflation.” In fact, the dual mandate is full employment (defined as […]