The Krugman-Summers 1982 Inflation Memo As members of the Reagan CEA, Paul Krugman and Lawrence Summers wrote a memo to Martin Feldstein and Willam Poole on 9/9/1982 with the first section entitled “The Inflation Time Bomb”. Don Luskin’s latest tirade at NRO links to it (alas, he links only to the first page of the […]
Record Foreign Investment and the Reagan-Bush Tax Cuts Let’s discuss two recent interpretations of the large current account deficits. First up is a good article from Reuters with the news that the current account ran a deficit equal to $144.9 billion over the past 90 days. WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. current account deficit widened […]
Good News, Everyone! The pseudonymous PGL, former Angry Bear guest-blogger, will be a regular contributor to the blog starting, I believe, today. His posts will be centered around Tuesday, but come as news breaks or the urge to write strikes. Kash and I will continue our mostly around-the-week coverage of news, politics, and the economy. […]
Tom Delay Lame Duck U.S. Rep. Chris Bell isn’t mincing words. He’s filed an ethics complaint against Tom Delay in the House and yesterday wrote an Op/Ed in the Houston Chronicle explaining why: DeLay undermines small ‘d’ democracy By U.S. REP. CHRIS BELL U.S. Majority Leader Tom DeLay is the most corrupt politician in America. […]
Playing Poker With Dick Cheney The Poor Man has a brilliant parable about his night of poker with Dick Cheny, including but not limited to this: Brit Hume: It seems like some people are still playing poker like it’s September 10th. Back then, you needed to have all your cards in order to claim a […]
Kerry: Rich and Privileged; Bush: Salt of the Earth Everyman Nedra Pickler’s really earning her GOP Team Leader points with this one, spotted by the incomparable Daily Howler: PICKLER: After a week of campaigning for the less fortunate, John Kerry went on vacation with the fabulously wealthy. Kerry is a rich man who promotes the […]
Income versus Assets Stephen Roach argues that the US economy has undergone a fundamental change over the recent past from being income-driven to being asset-driven. The punch line: In the asset economy, the rules of traditional macro have been rewritten. Income-based metrics that have long been used to scale deficits, debt, and saving are depicted […]
Make Conservatives Angry Tuesday is the day for My Life, Bill Clinton’s book. Here I shall write for you, the reader, a list of what you will hear over the next few days, so that you can safely ignore the blathering pundits: Clinton is hurting Kerry by stealing the spotlight. Clinton is hurting Kerry by […]
Spending Money With Little Return … That’s something at which this administration is pretty good. Based on this NYT story, not only can they spend a lot yet end up with little to show for it in Iraq, on a Medicare prescription drug benefit, or on protectionism, they can do it with campaign spending, too: […]
It’s Friday That means it’s time for another installment of What’s New from cranky physicist Robert Park: 3. MISSILE DEFENSE: SENATE REJECTS CALL FOR INDEPENDENT TESTING. The Senate Armed Services Committee voted this week to proceed with President Bush’s proposed missile defense system, which is scheduled to be deployed in October. Amendments that would subject […]