Via Maxspeaks 562 economists on the minimum wage: The value of the 1997 increase in the federal minimum wage has been fully eroded. The real value of today’s federal minimum wage is less than it has been in 46 out of the last 48 years. Moreover, the ratio of the minimum wage to the average […]
During last night’s debate, we heard the following two claims: Edwards: The first Gulf war cost America $5 billion. We’re at $200 billion and counting. Cheney: With respect to the cost, it wasn’t $200 billion. You probably weren’t there to vote for that. But $120 billion is, in fact, what has been allocated to Iraq. […]
It’s really not rocket science. The more we have of this and this: The more we’ll be reading about things like this: WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. consumers will see their natural gas bills rise 15 percent this winter compared to last year, and pay 28 percent more to warm their homes with heating oil and […]
I’ve been looking all over the White House web site for a transcript of the official White House press briefing that Greg Mankiw gave on February 9, 2004, in which he presented the 2004 Economic Report of the President. My efforts seem to be fruitless, however: I simply can not find it among White House […]
For me, the single most striking moment in last night’s debate was this one: EDWARDS: …Now, as to this question, let me say first that I think the vice president and his wife love their daughter. I think they love her very much. And you can’t have anything but respect for the fact that they’re […]
I stated in the update to my livebloggin’ post that I may have judged Edwards too harshly. Josh Marshall certainly was impressed by Edwards: I hesitate to say this. But my basic impression was that Edwards didn’t strike a false note for the entire 90 minutes. And I say this having been critical of him […]
No problem. Just raise your credit limit: WASHINGTON – The government should hit the national debt’s $7.4 trillion ceiling this month, and the Bush administration told Congress again Monday it should raise the limit. That would be a politically sticky move just weeks from the Nov. 2 elections. Treasury Department (news – web sites) spokesman […]
– Hmm. They just shook hands on camera; I read they weren’t going to do that. – FYI, Here’s Condoleeza Rice talking about tonight’s moderator, Gwen Ifill: RICE: Thank you very much. I’d like to thank Gwen for that wonderful introduction. And even if you aren’t getting invited, I can tell you that she is, […]
I’ll be interested in whether Dick Cheney tries to claim real wages are rising again. It is true that the BLS reporting of nominal average hourly earnings is 7% higher than it was as of December 2001, but so is its reporting of consumer prices. We have seen lots of confusion on this score including […]
Since the first Presidential debate covered the national security issue, my review of Bush’s Agenda for America will address chapter 4. The short version of this is “The Best Defense is a Good Offense”. I can see why the authors put the plans for strengthening homeland security towards the end of this document given that […]