Lifted from Robert’s Stochaistic thoughts is a post that comments on Italian political/economists and government policy. There are some ‘in the know’ names for US readers: Simon Wren-Lewis asks. I answer. In real authentic East of the English Channel Europe, economists don’t endorse candidates, because elections don’t matter. Neither do they endorse gymnasts, because our […]
Lifted from Robert’s stochastic thoughts on media: Wish I’d Typed this Bill Nothstine · Top Commenter · Living Liberally And, to be fair to Romney [brief interlude while Bill clutches frantically, Strangelove-like, at the hand that just typed those words], if he said it on TV that can be considered at least prima facie evidence […]
Mitt Romney proposes reducing tax brackets by 20% and cutting the estate tax (to zero IIRC). He will keep or expand favored treatment of capital gains and dividends. He claims that he doesn’t plan to cut taxes for the rich. He claims that he will avoid such cuts by eliminating deductions, credits and exclusions. One […]
Lifted from Robert’s personal blog comes this thought: Ballance in the Washington Post Again – Robert’s thoughts This is part of a series. As usual, I think the latest is the all time winner. The concept of Ballance is that reporting and commentary must reach balanced conclusions no matter what the facts are. It is […]
Lifted from Robert’s Stochastic Thoughts comes this comment on Matt Yglesias: by Robert Waldmann Matthew Yglesias asks (Does Uncompensated Care Raise Prices for the Insured?). I am having trouble with moneybox comments so I comment here. OK first I have to note that a philosophy concentrator half my age is doing pretty well to make […]
lifted from Robert’s site: Katherine Eban reported in the notorious left wing rag “Fortune” that everything Republicans have been saying about “Fast and Furious” up until yesterday when they found Eric Holder for contempt of Congress (for only handing over 7,600 pages of documents and insisting that ongoing investigations are protected by executive privilege) is […]
Suzy Khimm, Kevin Drum and Greg Sargent comment on the series of gallup polls dating back to 1992 in which a solid majority of US adults, ranging from 55% to 77%, say that they think the rich pay less than their fair share of taxes. Please click the link to Drum then come back. I […]
Mark Thoma quotesForecasting the Great Recession: DSGE vs. Blue Chip, by Marco Del Negro, Daniel Herbst, and Frank Schorfheide, Liberty Street: Coincidentally commenter Luis Enrique asked me what I thought of that paper on Gmail. this is commentator Luis Enrique [skip] I am enjoying your to and fro with Simon WL anyway, I just wanted to send […]
(Dan here…Lifted from Robert’s Stochastic Thoughts. Just a comment.) by Robert Waldmann Most absurd use of “Most” Two of the bees in my bonnet are the www.WashingtonPost.com Headline writer(s) and the abuse of the word “most.” In a bit of a shift*, I complain about the www.nytimes.com headline: “Most Americans Oppose Health Law, Poll Finds” […]
Dan here…. Jonathon Chait writes in the NYT Paul Ryan: Obama Refuses to Endorse Tax Fairy. Lifted from Robert’s Stochastic Thoughts on journalistic rhetorical language and consensus: on Chait there’s not really a growing consensus that tax reform is good. The consensus has existed among economists forever where he defines tax reform as closing tax […]