by Rebecca Wilder(crossposted with Newsneconomics) This week the Federal Reserve reported the Q3 2009 Flow of Funds accounts. The headline indicators show household net worth improving and private debt burden falling. The private sector – households and firms – is dropping leverage. Update: This chart has been modified slightly – the leverage level data (highlighted […]

by cactus Comparing Presidents, Real GDP per capita, All the Lags You Can Eat Three Ways From Thursday I didn’t really wanna write this post, but I keep getting told that when you look at how Preznits did on the economy, lags, lags, and more lags are what matters. I’d like to move on to […]

by Bruce Webb CBO Director’s Blog Manager’s Amendment to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act CBO Analysis/Score Senate Health Care bill Manager’s Amendment Also I would like some links to current and historical numbers on Medical Loss Ratios. I found some claims from a commenter at Dean Baker’s Meet the Press (and past commenter […]

I winced typing that title, since it is not wise to disagree with Paul Krugman and since I am going to argue that cutting the minimum wage can cause increased employment. Before going on, I stress that I oppose cutting the minimum wage as the logic of my argument suggests making the tax code more […]

by divorced one like Bush I just listened to the conference call with Gov. Dean and Wendall Potter. Toward the very end of the call, the issue of medical loss ratio regulation came up. Seems like a reasonable thing to regulate especially if we are going to get Chicago School of Economics style health care […]

This week, the single most important event in global bond markets was the S&P downgrade of Greece’s long-term debt obligations, A- to BBB+. Moody’s is the last of the major rating agencies to hold Greek debt in the A-category of investment grade (currently at A1); but a major decision from Moody’s could come within weeks. […]

Good Thing We Have Deficit Hawks in Congress: The tenants were all living low-rent under a program that’s beginning to expire – but had been promised they could still qualify for a federal Section 8 rent subsidy. But this week, when many of them began to show up at New York City Housing Authority offices, […]

But Steve Randy Waldman already did the heavy lifting: several of the other officers had been stationed at the height of the housing bubble at facilities located near D.C. in Northern Virginia. They lived in very modest homes which were removed from their workplaces by substantial driving distances, but these homes were nevertheless particularly pricey […]