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

A New Economic Theory

David Callaway, editor-in-chief of CBSMarketwatch.com, puts it well: Move over Keynes. The era of girlie-men economic theory has begun. Not since the 1936 publication of “The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money” split the academic world and changed the way governments look at their economies has such a weighty treatise been posited. Yet California […]

Bush Prosperity

According to Commerce Secretary Evans: WASHINGTON (CBS.MW) –“Because of the tax cuts, this economy is very, very strong. We need to continue the tax cuts and that’s one thing the president will certainly be talking about on Thursday night when he comes to this convention floor. The trends are very friendly. The economic trends continue […]

Household Income: Rising or Falling?

Last week we read about the Census Bureau’s estimates of household income. The figures showed a slight decline in real median income in the US last year, continuing the trend of the past few years toward lower income. But others have disputed these findings. The Bush administration continues to cite figures claiming that real incomes […]

Travelling

I’ll be travelling the next few days and so will have sporadic at best internet access. But I’m sure Kash and PGL (and Karsten on Fridays) will keep the content coming. AB

Executive Compensation

The non-profit group United for a Fair Economy has just released the results of their annual survey of CEO compensation. The finding that surprised me the most was that CEOs of the 50 companies that have done the most offshore outsourcing have seen their pay rise considerably faster than the average CEO; their pay was […]

Pat Buchanan’s defense of Swifties hoist on its own petard

Bob Somerby has been having a field day with the “clownishly unprepared” cable reporters on the Swift Boat smears. This coverage of Hardball’s August 26 show had Pat Buchanan saying that the Swift Boats were not damaged on the day that rescued Jim Rassmann from the water. This is the day that Robert Lambert rescued […]

A Problem with Pension Insurance and Certain Social Security Privatization Proposals

Via Daniel Drezner’s Headlines from the Future last Wednesday – Richard Ippolito’s How to Reduce the Cost of Federal Pension Insurance (Cato Policy Analysis No. 523). Dan thinks the PBGC is an arcane policy and Ippolito’s discussion of why there is an increasing likelihood that taxpayers “will eventually be called upon to provide a bailout” […]

Consumers Apparently Reading Angry Bear

Maybe people reading my bearish post from last week was the cause of this: NEW YORK (CNN/Money) – Consumer confidence plunged in August, hurt by worries about jobs, a research group said Tuesday, in a report that fell far below forecasts by private economists. The Conference Board, a business research group, said its confidence index […]

The Latest WTO Case

The WTO has just ruled in favor of the EU and against the US in a WTO dipute. The case involves the “Byrd Amendment,” otherwise known as the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act of 2000. This law directed the US government to distribute any tariff revenues received from anti-dumping duties to the most affected […]