Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.

Where Has All The Money Gone, Pt I, Corporate Profits

INTRODUCTION 1) Rethug Speaker of the House John Boehner says that as a nation, “we’re broke“; Rethug presidential candidate Ron Paul claims America “should declare bankruptcy.”  I say these two are liars, and at least one of them is crazy. 2) Tyler Cowan says “we are poorer than we think we are,” due to mis-measurement […]

Johnston: Income Inequality Increases as Bank Regulation, Prosecutions Decrease

Via Taxprofblog comes David Cay Johnston’s Income Inequality Increases as Bank Regulation, Prosecutions Decrease through Reuters, The Taxpayers’ Burden, by David Cay Johnston: The accompanying graphic shows a fascinating correlation. In the years before New Deal regulation of banks and after the easing of regulations began in 1980, bank failures were quite high. So was […]

Defining Rich IV: Corporate vs Personal Tax collection patterns 1934 to present

When I left this series in September, I had introduced the idea of looking at past tax tables as a means of understanding how We the People define rich. One specific note from history was a surcharge on top of themarginal tax rates to pay for the Great One (WWII). Obviously, that aspect of our […]

The right’s smoke and mirrors scam about Social Security–it ain’t broke (unless China is too)

by Linda Beale The right’s smoke and mirrors scam about Social Security–it ain’t broke (unless China is too) We’ve noted in these postings the growing inequality between rich and the rest of us in America, and that is the appropriate backdrop against which to investigate further the right’s smoke-and-mirrors scams about tax policy and earned […]

It’s not how rich we are, it’s how equal we are.

This is a 16 minute * lecture by Richard Wilkinson. It is posted at TED. I am posting it here, as I can not believe this information has not received more attention now that the US is awakening from the decades long delusion of prosperity which did not and as shown in the lecture could […]

Inequality–the facts speak for themselves (don’t listen to the apologists on the right)

by Linda Beale Inequality–the facts speak for themselves (don’t listen to the apologists on the right) Inequality is real, and it is growing. It is debilitating for democratic institutions, as the Supreme Court’s Citizens United case and its aftermath start to impact the federal elections and as the money from the Koch brothers, Walton heirs […]

Blanket the Earth

The Rude Pundit Has a Brilliant Suggestion. OWS didn’t expect to be in Zucotti Park for more than two months. It looks as if they’ll be there a lot longer. UPDATE: Michael Swanwick shows how easy it can be: It’s Halloween! So Marianne and I went down to City Hall to donate a case of […]

crony capitalism and casino capitalism–bad flavors for right or left, per Kristof and Stiglitz

by Linda Beale crony capitalism and casino capitalism–bad flavors for right or left, per Kristof and Stiglitz The Occupy Wall Street focus on “we are the 99 percent” juxtaposed with the CBO’s recent report on the growing inequality in America (see here) come at a time when the American right is pushing hard for policies, […]

Dave Dayen Is Wrong

And not in a good way, when he says: I understand that Republicans are just playing the culture war game here, trying to link Warren and the loony left. I don’t know how that will play in, er, Massachusetts. And the world has moved on from the Hard Hat riots and the 1972 campaign. The […]

The Kimel Curve and the Kitchen Sink, Part 1: All Years

by >Mike Kimel I’ve been writing about the relationship between tax rates and growth since I started blogging in 2006. A lot of those posts have focused on the quadratic relationship between tax rates and growth. That is, it turns out that if you take US data going back to when the BEA started keeping […]