rdan Governors are taking a look at the current demands on their National Guard troops. “There is not Congressional authorization for the use of the Guard today,” Vermont State Rep. Mike Fisher told Truthout. “One Guard member improperly called into federal service to fight a war – that’s a real problem. Choosing to go to […]
by Bruce Webb Politicians tasked with convincing democratic majorities that they should oppose minimum wage increases generally fall back on the economic argument that such increases simply lead to job losses. Often they go on to point out that these losses fall disproportionately on the young, the unskilled, or minorities. Before examining whether this argument […]
Robert Waldmann The Geithner plan has been announced and the Dow has dropped 381.99 so far today Reminds me of this by Daniel Drezner [O]ne could forgive Geithner right now if his head swelled just a little bit. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shot up five hundred points on Friday as word of his appointment […]
Via Stefan Karlsson, Kash guest-posts at EconBrowser. With—as will come as no surprise to long-time AB readers—lots of graphics.
Robert Waldmann Mashall wrote New York Times columnist Paul Krugman came out blasting yesterday, all but calling the president a postpartisan wimp. Obama’s stimulus plan, he said, is too small to plug the hole in our economy created by faltering private demand. And he chided the president for allowing a bipartisan group of Senate moderates […]
Robert Waldmann I have a proposal for targetted temporary spending which will have a huge immense disproportionate social benefit. It is not, shall we say, very controversial as it comes under the NIH budget — the one the house and senate are competing to pump up most. On the other hand, the Senate bill calls […]
rdan Lots of opinions are being written using leaked information on Geithner’s announcements today, and Yves weighs in and points us to Martin Wolf. This NYT article may provide guidance on the announcement. (h/t CR) Hold your breath and listen carefully, then breathe.
rdan Juan Cole fills us in on the Iraqi elections. Worth a look folks, lest we forget. The Middle East alliances are changing, and the Russians are gaining influence. Gates and the Joint Chief of Staffs do not have an end game reportedly, which means they did not under President Bush. Surprise. Update: WAPO carries […]
by Bruce Webb In a previous post I made a stab at explaining the differences in Republican and Democratic responses to the economics of stimulus by an appeal to differences in world view. With limited success due I think to my not developing my major premise. Here I want to back up a little and […]
By Spencer On the conservative/ libertarian blogs our friends keep telling us that increasing the minimum wage causes teenage unemployment to rise. They base their argument on the basic economic principle that if the price of something goes up the demand will go down. That is a basic principle of economics but as with all […]