The latest from Karl Rove’s attorney says it all: Rove’s defense team asserts that President Bush’s deputy chief of staff has not committed a crime but nevertheless anticipates that special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald could find a way to bring charges in the next two weeks, the source said. At the end of the day, […]
Suppose your company is considering purchasing another company and wishes to convince the Department of Justice (DOJ) that the benefits to shareholders come from efficiency-enhancing effects and not competition-reducing effects. One could hire a team of economists from a host of consulting firms such as these two. Or supposed you simply wished to learned how […]
When I began reading the latest from Greg Kaza, I thought “ho-hum, more NRO cheerleading”: Bearish critics overlook the dynamic spirit of American capitalism, its risk-taking entrepreneurs, and the economy’s resiliency. They also overlook broad indicators like the output of the nation’s mines, factories, and utilities (industrial production), and nonfarm employment, which both show an […]
This week’s news will probably be dominated by Wilma and Fitzgerald. And the top economic story will likely be Q3 GDP. But I’ll also be looking at the Existing Home Sales and New Home Sales reports for further clues of a housing slowdown. Expectations are for strong volumes for both existing and new home sales. […]
Since I have been on a bit of a tirade per this issue as to whether real wealth has been rapidly increasing, let me recommend a graph from Michael Mandel who writes: I like to keep track of what I call “real net household wealth”. That is, household net worth, subtracting out federal government debt, […]
I’m saddened to see that Bruce Bartlett has taken the low road: Apparently, this involves publishing articles by its editorial writers that are not good enough to appear in the print edition of the paper. The first of these articles appeared on October 4 and dealt with taxation. It was written by Times editorial board […]
Tyler Cowen poses the latest from Michael Mandel as a question to his class as well as to the rest of us: So what would be the payoff from all that thriftiness? A reasonable rate of return on investment, after depreciation, is roughly 7%. So $1.5 trillion in extra assets would have a return of […]
Via Brad DeLong, the Toronto Star reports on Prime Minister Paul Martin’s frustration with President Bush’s trade protectionist stances: Prime Minister Paul Martin struck just the right notes with American business leaders this week, in a forceful but restrained speech arguing that Washington’s refusal to play by the rules on softwood lumber is a “breach […]
AB read Bernie asked me to have a more balanced perspective on that Tamny op-ed as in thinking in terms of debt/asset ratios. While thanking Dryfly for a nice reply, perhaps Bernie had in mind this: What Wessel and others can’t seem to explain is how we Americans supposedly save nothing, yet at the same […]
John Tamny dares to attack the writing of David Wessel: To begin, Wessel bemoans the fact that the U.S., once a creditor country, now owes the rest of the world $2.5 trillion, and talks of steps to “wean the U.S. from growing dependence on the savings of Asians and Europeans.” His characterization itself is misleading. […]