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

Buffett Rule rejected by Senate

by Linda Beale Buffett Rule rejected by Senate The Senate rejected the effort to make tax policy commensurate with the slogans about American values that we parrot freely–opportunity, paying fair shares, etc. Given the now rigid “phantom” filibuster rule requiring a supermajority to pass anything in the Senate, the Republicans –especially if joined by a […]

American Enterprise Institute Economists Redux

by Mike Kimel American Enterprise Institute Economists Redux The other day I wrote a post about economists at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), a prominent conservative think-tank. The post began with this paragraph from a story in the NY Times Politicians sometimes say that lower tax rates lead to higher economic growth, which in turn […]

A Modest Forecast: The Average Real Growth in Ireland will Exceed 10% a Year From 2012 to 2014

by Mike Kimel A Modest Forecast: The Average Real Growth in Ireland will Exceed 10% a Year From 2012 to 2014  You read the title correctly: the Irish economy will grow by more than 10% next year. Now, hearing that, you might be asking yourself: “Is this guy for real? He must be nuts.”  Because […]

Peter Diamond, Emmanuel Saez, Paul Krugman and Me!! Looking at Optimal Tax Rates

by Mike Kimel Peter Diamond, Emmanuel Saez, Paul Krugman and Me!! Looking at Optimal Tax Rates Via Paul Krugman, I learned of this paper by Peter Diamond and Emmanuel Saez. Diamond, of course, is a Nobel Laureate. I will be shocked if Saez isn’t one too in ten or fifteen years. Long story made very […]

A Few Graphs on Real GDP Growth Rates versus Taxes and the Size of Government

by Mike Kimel A Few Graphs on Real GDP Growth Rates versus Taxes and the Size of GovernmentCross posted at the Presimetrics blog. This post has a few simple graphs showing the relationship between the growth in real GDP and a few other variables: the top marginal tax rate, spending by the federal government as […]

Top Marginal Income Tax Rates & Real Economic Growth, a Bar Chart

by Mike Kimel Top Marginal Income Tax Rates & Real Economic Growth, a Bar ChartCross posted at the Presimetrics blog. The chart below shows tax rates on one axis and the growth rates in real GDP that accompanied those tax rates on the other: I broke the tax ranges into 5 percentage point increments centered […]

The top marginal income tax rate should be about 65%…

by Mike Kimel Cross posted at the Presimetrics blog. To maximize real economic growth in the United States, the top marginal income tax rate should be about 65%, give or take about ten percent. Preposterous, right? Well, it turns out that’s what the data tells us, or would, if we had the ears to listen. […]