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

Panel Discussion with: Krugman, Sachs, Phelps, Soros

Just wanted to let everyone know about a presentation that aired on Cspan’s Book TV.  It is a 2 hour panel discussion titles: Global Economy: Crisis Without End.  It was held 2/17/12.   Click hereto bring up the show.   What I found most interesting was the different perspectives between Krugman and Sachs. I’m not […]

Krugman, Roubini, and the Eurozone

Krugman highlights but provides no link to Nouriel Roubini’s address to the 2006 Davos meeting (direct link to Economonitors here). What I would say is that this incident exemplified something that was going on all along the march to the eurodebacle. Serious discussion of the risks and possible downsides was simply not allowed. If you […]

Random Notes on Economics, Music, and Death–and a Bleg

Excess Rents Datapoint of the Day: Since the NYT doesn’t pay Paul Krugman for his blog posts, why should reading those count as part of the “20 free articles” non-subscribers are allowed? I want the Grapelli track, but not enough to pay for a six-CD set. This—built by government employees—is the greatest accomplishment in music […]

Told Him So

Robert Waldmann told Paul Krugman so About 21 months ago Paul Krugman had a question lower and middle-income Americans would be substantially better off under the Obama plan. But where is the money for health care reform? I proposed an answer there are two puzzles in Obama’s proposals1) How does he plan to pay for […]

Not the Cheeriest Way to Start the Day: Bernanke Part 1 of 2

It’s bad enough to violate Brad DeLong’s first rule (which, I hasten to rationalize, was posted when DeLong himself was disagreeing). It’s worse when the opposition to Krugman is coming from…the WSJ editorial page. (Or, as Barry Ritholtz correctly describes it, “the comics section.” Just less funny, and more likely to make the two-drink minimum […]

I Tend to Describe this as "Unwarranted Optimism"

The Shrill One (tm – Brad DeLong) as Optimist: The result, then, will be high unemployment leading into the 2010 elections, and corresponding Democratic losses. These losses will be worse because Obama, by pursuing a uniformly pro-banker policy without even a gesture to popular anger over the bailouts, has ceded populist energy to the right […]

Seasonal Posting: NYTFail, Part 2

First, David Leonhardt argued that this recession was good for workers. Now, Floyd Norris apparently has decided to mix and match data. (I wonder if the fact many NYT employees who are looking at their 45-day severance offers is having an effect on its economic coverage.) One of the standard “economist jokes” is about the […]