by cactus A Further Critique of Romer and Romer Let’s take another look at the main Romer and Romer findings, namely that under some circumstances, tax cuts are good for economic growth. In the past I noted I have a few problems with it, but I thought I’d let the Romers work speak for itself […]
Robert Waldmann I’m still thinking about Krugman’s excellent little model which gives the very clear result that optimal macro policy implies that unemployment is always at the natural rate and so, if the nominal interest rate is zero, the optimal fiscal stimulus should drive unemployment all of the way to the natural rate. Krugman’s model […]
by Bruce Webb. Sorry for two posts in a day. But the raw data is important.OAS (Old Age Survivor) starting 2008 balance $2.023 trillionIntermediate Cost projection for year end $2.216 trillionLow Cost projection for year end $2.221 trillionPreliminary year end balance $2.203 trillion or up $180 billion for the year. DI (Disability) starting 2008 balance […]
Parts of the blogosphere are in an uproar over some Q&A the other day that some interpreted as Obama putting Social Security ‘reform’ on the table. Well for reasons outlined by Barkley Rosser (and posted below by Dan) I don’t think we have much to worry about to begin with. But even if the Obama […]
Digital History has an interesting note on WPA history, and the equivalent FDR spent on such projects. Work crews were criticized for spending days moving leaf piles from one side of the street to the other. Unions went on strike to protest the program’s refusal to pay wages equal to those of the private sector. […]
Robert Waldmann is back to his CDS obsession. Imagine I’m a banker and I have this problem that they tell me I have to mark assets to market. I don’t like that because it makes my stated profits vary and my bonus depends on accounting profits and I don’t like the risk. How can I […]
Post lifted from Barkley Rosser at Econospeak How Bruce Webb And I Helped Save Social Security (Maybe) A few days ago Obama was quoted as saying that “getting entitlement spending under control” would be part of the effort to deal with budgetary problems. Most think he is focusing on getting rising medical care costs under […]
rdan Obama offers These estimates show that all components of the program make important contributions to job creation. The direct spending programs have the largest job bang for the buck. State fiscal relief also has important direct and indirect effects on jobs, and so very strong job bang for the buck. Tax cuts, though they […]
rdan Army Times reports this on the ongoing dilemma of how we treat servicemen from the ME conflicts: In October, a medical evaluation board physician at Bragg recommended that Boyle go through the military disability retirement process for chronic post-traumatic stress disorder — which is supposed to automatically earn him at least a 50 percent […]
by cactus A Question About Gaza I’m trying to understand the situation in Gaza. I understand that Israel manages to exert some control over Gaza’s borders and airspace. Israel has also tried to choke off the flow of weapons into Gaza and this embargo is being blamed for much of the hardship that residents of […]