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

House Tri-Committee Health Care Bill w/CBO Prelim Analysis

by Bruce Webb House Education and Labor:: America’s Affordable Health Choices Act all links from the Committee web page. Summary Bill Text (1.7 MB PDF) CBO-Preliminary Analysis: Tri-Committee Health Care Bill Compare to the tables scoring the Senate HELP Bill Kennedy-Dodd Bill with CBO Scoring House Tri-Committee: Ten year addition to budget $1.082 trillion. Total […]

DeLong, Thoma, Rodrik et al. Do Good

To often, we talk about models as if they are reality, instead of reflecting a reality that was approximated. At least forty economists, including at least three ‘Nobel’ Prize winners, know that: A rising tide lifts all boats only when labor and management bargain on relatively equal terms.

CIA, TIA & RBC: Who was watching?

by Bruce Webb The MSM and the blogosphere alike are ablaze with speculation about exactly what secret program the CIA kept concealed for eight years. Assasination squad targetted at al-Qaeda? Well since we have been firing Hellfire missiles from Predators whenever we suspect the presense of high level al-Qaeda for years now that news would […]

Putting the ‘no’ in innovation?

by cactus The inimitable TBogg sums up one of the big arguments against having the gubmint involved in healthcare: Because, when it’s on the governments tab, innovation dries up, which might explain why our military men and women are currently fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan with pointy sticks and small but sharp-edged pebbles. A few […]

Justin Fox’s new book: ‘Myth of the Rational Market’

by Bruce Webb Over at TPM Justin Fox is launching a discussion of his new book The Myth of the Rational Market: A History of Risk, Reward, and Delusion on Wall Street which feeds right into some discussions we have had here at Angry Bear. So I propose to give his set-up here and then […]

Second Best Second Stimulus

Robert Waldmann It sure looks like the US economy would benefit from a second stimulus. However, it also looks clear that congress will not pass an optimal second stimulus. Getting my thoughts on economics and politics from a philosophy major, I note that Matthew Yglesias notes that it would be very hard for congress to […]

Seymour Martin Hersh

Robert Waldmann There is something which I genuinely don’t understand about US journalism. Why don’t US journalists cite Seymour Hersh more ? I have never heard anyone rank him as an investigative journalist lower than number one, yet his stories vanish for months or years until someone else reports them. For example, yesterday the Wall […]

The Fed and pumping money into the economy

by cactus We all know the Fed has been pumping money galore into the economy lately. It makes sense, after all – the economy sucks right now and will for the foreseeable near future. Even if the NBER concludes in a few months that the Great Recession ended in the first half of the year, […]

Battle of the (Senate) Titans

by Tom aka Rusty Rustbelt Battle of the (Senate) Titans Senators Kennedy (Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee) and Senator Dodd (Kennedy’s wingman while he fights cancer) are seemingly lined up as opposition forces to Senator Baucus (Chairman, Senate Finance Committee ) on some aspects of health care reform legislation. Various […]

by Linda Beale This is one of those weeks when almost everything has a tax angle. Let’s survey. Michael Jackson’s funeral Should taxpayers have to foot the bill for the extra security surrounding celebrity memorial services? Does an estate get to deduct the costs of gala receptions connected with a memorial as part of the […]