September 2010
59 posts
Republicans Want To Cut Federal Spending But Have...
Think Progress has a run down of the Republican efforts to pretend their platitudes aren’t just the same hot air that got us into the mess during the Bush years…. Part of the GOP’s election strategy this year has been to try to claim that it is the Party of fiscal conservatism. As part of that campaign, Republicans regularly repeat the mantra that in order to get the deficit under...
Primaries, Tea Party, and IRV
Christine O’Donnell perpetuates that myth of the angry small government majority in her Value Voters speech: Christine O’Donnell, who rode Tea Party fervor and funding to a stunning win Tuesday in Delaware’s Republican Senate primary, brought her us-against-the-D.C.-ruling-class-elites message to a decidedly friendly Washington crowd Friday afternoon, promising a...
Companies Still Hoarding Tons of Cash
Economix: American companies are still sitting on mountains of cash, according to a new report from the Federal Reserve. The Fed’s quarterly Flow of Funds report, released today with data for the second quarter of 2010, found that total credit grew for the first time in over a year, mainly because the federal government increased its borrowing. Consumers, however, continue to deleverage: Net...
Temporary Tax Cuts For The Rich? Bad idea...
Paul Krugman: Greg Sargent notes the growing number of Republicans suggesting a “compromise” in the form of temporary extension of high-end tax breaks, and urges Democrats not to take the bait. His argument is essentially political: Republicans are obviously aware that they’re in a fix, and Democrats shouldn’t help them out. But there are reasons beyond partisan maneuvering to reject any deal...
Ayn Rand
Dave Johnson on the pathology of Ayn Rand: . I mentioned Ayn Rand. Rand’s work is very popular among conservatives now. It forms a core justification for their “on your own” philosophy praising the wealthy and discarding the rest. So it is useful to explore the formation and core of this philosophy. Early in her writings Rand became fascinated with a serial killer named William...
The State of Young College Grads «
One of the most common themes I hear on the campaign trail in my state senate race are concerns from young people about the cost of school, the burden of student loans, and major fears about being able to pay them off. These are people going to Med School, law school, getting bachelors, getting associate degrees—-basically across the spectrum. Everyone is concerned about their ability to...
Edmund Burke predicts responses from Rightwing to...
“I know that many have been taught to think that moderation, in a case like this, is a sort of treason” Edmund Burke Posted via email from Jim Nichols | Comment »
Changing Poverty Demographics
Annie Lowrey Matt Yglesias posts a good chart of the changing poverty demographics over the past forty years: Poverty declines sharply for seniors. For families headed by single mothers, it declines significantly before tracking back up during the 2000s. The aughts saw a slow rise in poverty for the working-age and children, as well — the first time ever that poverty has increased during a...
Economist's View: Poverty and Redistribution
Mark Thoma: Here are two links: We Should Strengthen the Safety Net as the Recession Swells the Ranks of the Poor - Brookings Institution All Time Record Level of Severe Poverty - Angry Bear And an argument for redistribution: Superstars & redistribution, by Chris Dillow: Alex Tabarrok explains how increasing inequality can be due to “winner take all” superstar effects. This raises an...
Fears over computers’ impact on lives
Financial Times: “For me this is almost as important as climate change,” she said, ahead of a speech on Tuesday night at the British Science Festival in Birmingham. “While it doesn’t threaten the existence of the planet like climate change, I think the quality of our existence is threatened – and the kind of people we might be in the future.” Lady Greenfield said the possible benefits of modern...
The trucks won't load themselves...
I’m headed to work. Here are your morning reads…. Quote for the day: Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve. —George Bernard Shaw FT.com / Columnists / Martin Wolf - Germans are wrong: the eurozone is good for them http://goo.gl/zyLy quotes: Jonathan Bernstein on conservatives http://post.ly/xQeq Real Interest Rates Please...
The US economy: why it matters what sort of crisis...
Dean Baker: In a country with almost 15 million people out of work, it is amazing that any economists still have jobs. This one is their fault first and foremost. Economists are supposed to know about the economy and provide advice on how to avoid disasters before they happen and help us recover from the bad things happen in spite of good advice. The economics profession has not done well on...
Interview : Prof. Dan Ariely, Duke University,...
Behavioral economist Dan Ariely on Housing Bubble and efficient market hypothesis… ACEMAXX-ANALYTICS: There was a Housing Bubble back then. But why could the most people not be worried? What lessons emerge from that development ? I don’t think it is the case that most people are not worried. There is a difference here between the regular people and the bankers. If you believe that...
I.M.F. Calls for Countries to Focus on Jobs
NYT: Rising long-term unemployment, especially among young people, poses the next big threat to the global economic recovery, the International Monetary Fund warned on Monday. Slower growth is forcing governments to expand social safety nets and stimulate job creation even as they rein in finances. But with hundreds of millions of people unemployed worldwide, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the managing...
The Journalists Formerly Known as the Media: My...
Jay Rosen: What would happen today if someone on television did what Howard Beale did? Immediately people who happened to be watching would alert their followers on Twitter. Someone would post a clip the same day on YouTube. The social networks would light up before the incident was over. Bloggers would be commenting on it well before professional critics had their chance. The media world today...
Where oh where have all the grown ups in the GOP...
Jay Bookman: Conservative “intellectual” Dinesh D’Souza, writing for Forbes, tries to make the case that Barack Obama is secretly carrying out the ideological mission given to him by his birth father, a man to whom Obama had only passing exposure. He concludes: “Incredibly, the U.S. is being ruled according to the dreams of a Luo tribesman of the 1950s. This philandering, inebriated African...
Border Convictions: High Stakes, Unknown Price
The issue of undocumented workers comes up a whole lot in my state senate raace. My biggest problem with my opponents position on undocumented workers—as well as Republican policy makers in general is that they are completely impractical and end up throwing money (we don’t have) away. If you want to solve the problem you have to go after those who knowingly hire undocumented...
Krugman Wrong on Japan's Demographics and...
Beat the Press: BTP doesn’t ordinarily focus on blogs, but Paul Krugman’s blog is widely read, and most of us expect him to be right, so it is a big deal when he gets an important point wrong. This morning hetold readers that part of the explanation for Japan’s decline in per capita income relative to the U.S. is due to its aging population. He argues that his has led to a...
Brussels lifts eurozone's growth forecast
Financial Times: The eurozone’s economy will grow this year at nearly twice the pace forecast in the spring, the European Commission said on Monday, mostly because of the growth spurt the region experienced in the second quarter. Gross domestic product in the currency bloc would grow at 1.7 per cent in 2010, up from the 0.9 per cent forecast in May, the Economic and Financial Affairs directorate...
quotes: Jonathan Bernstein on conservatives
Jonathan Bernstein on conservatives I’m actually fairly baffled at the habit of some (certainly not all!) chest-thumpingly patriotic conservatives to explicitly treat large chunks of the United States of America as if they were weirdly foreign. Not that they’d think it — it’s a match for (some) liberals who dismiss flyover states — but that they have have no...
What’s the Best Course on the Bush Tax Cuts?
Off the Charts: Analysts Mark Zandi, Peter Orszag, and Howard Gleckman have all said sensible things about what would be the best policy for dealing with the expiring Bush tax cuts (which include a panoply of “middle class” tax cuts as well as cuts in marginal tax rates for the richest 2 percent of taxpayers). Unfortunately, their smart policy analysis has been lost in the headlines generated...
The Bush Tax Cuts and Small Business: What We Know
The Tax Policy Center: Those who would extend all of the Bush tax cuts, including for the highest-earners, are zeroing in what would happen to small business if Congress lets those top tax rates rise. And they are not subtle. Allowing top rates to increase would be a “job-killing tax hike” says Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah). So let’s take a closer look at these firms and what higher taxes might...
Wholesales Inventories increase 1.3% in July
Calculated Risk: From the Census Bureau: Total inventories of merchant wholesalers, except manufacturers’ sales branches and offices, after adjustment for seasonal variations but not for price changes, were $405.0 billion at the end of July, up 1.3 percent … The July inventories/sales ratio for merchant wholesalers, except manufacturers’ sales branches and offices, based on seasonally...
the trucks won't load themselves...
I’m headed to work. Here is your quote for the day.. “I want to be all used up when I die.” —George Bernard Shaw Hey, got to make an ask… please add my State Senate twitter @JimN2010 to keep up with my State Senate run. Its where most of my news reads are getting posted (@JimNichols is not up to much). —- James A. Nichols IV cell: (770) 312-6736 www.JimN2010.com...
Soldiers With Brain Trauma Denied Purple Hearts,...
ProPublica: High level medical officials in the Army debated whether head traumas that are difficult to detect, often leaving no visible signs of damage, warrant the award, the e-mails show. Most people who sustain such blows, also known as concussions, recover on their own, but studies show 5 percent to 15 percent may have long-term impairments. In 2008, Brig. Gen. Joseph Caravalho, then the...
Japanese growth less sluggish
Financial Times: Japanese economic output expanded more than initially thought in the second quarter, but the revision was too small to reclaim the title of world’s second-largest economy from China. The new data showed that capital spending contributed more to growth than preliminary estimates showed. The upward revision still shows that the economic recovery has been slowing and remains...
China trade surplus in surprise drop
Financial Times: China’s trade surplus narrowed last month, with imports growing much faster than expected though not enough to defuse political pressure on Beijing over the level of its currency. According to figures released on Friday, the trade surplus was $20.03bn in August, down from $28.7bn a month earlier and short of analysts forecasts. Exports grew 34.4 per cent in August over the year...
Taking Responsibility | Talking Points Memo
Talking Points Memo: Speaking just now on MSNBC James Zogby made a very good point — and pressed Andrea Mitchell on it. His point was that sure, this Pastor Jones fool is one guy, who’s managed to get worldwide attention for his stunt. But you cannot separate him, as I noted below, from the whole climate of hate speech and anti-Muslim agitation from the Newt Gingriches and the Sarah...
Deficit Chickens - Grasping Reality with Both...
Brad Delong: Duncan Black: Eschaton:* That Nasty Deficit:* So the “centrist” Dems who are usually given lots of friendly ink over the endless kvetching about the deficit are going to prove, for the trillionth time, that they don’t actually care about the deficit but instead only care about marginal tax rates for rich people. That won’t stop reporters from writing about...
How To Tell When There’s Structural Unemployment
Matt Yglesias: I feel like the entire Minneapolis Fed take on structural unemployment and “skill mismatch” is a giant exercise in obfuscation. Of course the economy has many structural features and at any given time there are limits to growth. But there’s a very simple way to tell when additional monetary stimulus will no longer increase real output and that’s by looking at inflation. The powers...
The Budgetary Impact of EGTRRA/JGTRRA Extension...
Econbrowser: …According to the CBO In evaluating the advisability of extending either completely or partially the tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 (aka EGTRRA and JGTRRA), and implementing additional fixes to the AMT, one should consider the impact on the budget. True fiscal hawks, for instance, should be interested in the gap between the CBO baseline (red) and the extending EGTRRA and JGTRRA...
European Bond Spreads
Calculated Risk: Here is a look at European bond spreads from the Atlanta Fed weekly Financial Highlights released today (graph as of Sept 7th): Click on graph for larger image in new window. From the Atlanta Fed: Peripheral European bond spreads (over German bonds) have risen since the August FOMC meeting.Irish and Portuguese bond spreads are currently at all-time highs, while the spread for...
logic for politics: RAND PAUL:EMINENTLY LOGICAL,...
David Braybrooke Most people, one may expect, talk politics without being conscious of being logical (when they are) or illogical (when they are not logical). If our current politics are any guide, moreover, they are not prepared to deal with thinking in which logic thrusts to the fore — as it does in the public position expressed by Rand Paul. In this position, libertarian principles...
UBI and the Flat Tax
Herbert Simon: When we compare average incomes in rich nations with those in Third World countries, we find enormous differences that are surely not due simply to differences in motivations to earn. Laziness is not a principal cause of poverty. A more plausible explanation for the differences, in fact the explanation that is universally put forward, is that much greater resources per capita are...
Republican’s backing aids $30bn stimulus bill
Positive sign that some Republicans care more about the country than their political future (errr…wait Voinovich is going to retire this November… positive non the less…) Financial Times: A $30bn White House plan to boost lending to small business has secured the support of a key Republican senator, putting Democrats on course to pass the first in a series of mini-stimulus...
Are Tax Cuts to Business a Jobs Program?
Are Tax Cuts to Business a Jobs Program? | Beat the Press I am petitioning NPR to have my plan for tax cuts to Dean Baker labeled as a jobs program. Maybe its too early in the morning; but that was spit out the coffee laugh outloud funny…. Posted via email from Jim Nichols | Comment »
Orwell That Ends Well
Randall Amster gives his take on our modern social networking world, In just the past week, a friend lost his cellphone, and another was robbed. One fell asleep in the bathtub, and another visited her old elementary school. A number had interesting fare for dinner. Some liked the weather, others lamented it. One notable presence in particular diligently posted her whereabouts at all times. Pretty...
BP spreads blame over oil spill
BBC: An investigation carried out by BP said it was responsible in part for the disaster, but it also blamed other companies working on the well. BP faces billions of dollars worth of legal claims for compensation over the spill, the worst in recent US history. An estimated 4.9m barrels of oil leaked into the Gulf after the blast. The well was capped on 15 July, and an operation to permanently...
Land Grabs in Poor Countries Set to Increase
Land Grabs in Poor Countries Set to Increase by Hilaire Avril After weeks of rumours sparked by the leaking of a draft World Bank position paper on so-called land grabs in poor countries, the international financial institution has officially released its report on the surge in farmland purchases and leasing which have elicited controversy for over two years. Acquisitions of vast tracts of...
Ballots and bullets in Nigeria’s oil state
Financial Times: Timipre Sylva, governor of Bayelsa, is candid about a system that diverts public funds into private pockets. “If a chief walks into my office, he expects me to take care of his problems because that is what the military used to do. If I don’t, I’ve got a very big political enemy,” he says. “If I stop some of these things … then I will lose my election the next time.” Mr...
Consumer finance rebounds from crisis
Financial Times: Finance companies that lend to consumers and smaller businesses in the US are finding it easier to fund themselves in the wholesale credit markets, marking a comeback from their troubles during the financial crisis. Finance companies typically operate by borrowing in the markets and lending money at higher rates to their customers. During the credit crunch, the cost of their...
Asian shares higher on Obama stimulus plan
Financial Times: Asian shares are mostly higher as investors are cheered by US President Barack Obama’s $50bn stimulus plan while the stronger yen weighs on Japanese stocks. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index is up 0.1 per cent after rallying 4.6 per cent in the past four days amid optimism that the global economy will not slip into a double-dip recession. Steelmakers are gaining ground on expectations...
Democrats are facing a drubbing
Clive Crook in the Financial Times: Though the recession is doubtless the main reason for Democrats’ dismal prospects in November, it is not the only one. The party has made a habit of supporting unpopular policies, and selling them ineffectually. This yielded nothing on energy, for instance: carbon cap-and-trade had to be abandoned. But the Democrats won the day on healthcare. They assumed that...
Honoring Those Who Toil
Ralph Nader: I’ve often wondered why the knowledge of tradespeople about the best, middling and worst brands of equipment, products and materials they work with or have to install (such as furnaces) isn’t collected by some magazine or consumer group. After all Angie’s List is surveying what their customers around the country think about the quality of the service. Along with...
Construction industry struggling to rebuild | The...
The failure of federal and state policy makers to proactively take on the housing bubble (and inevitable mortgage crisis) has been devastating to the economy. The failure of Republicans in this state to run a sustainable budget—-yes, Republicans run the state no matter how many times they say Obama name it won’t change that fact—has hindered our economic recovery and...
Letter to the editor on the economy...
A reader of my blog (www.JimNichols4.com) sent me this letter to the editor he wrote. As always feel free to email (or tweet @JimN2010) letters to the editor, comments, articles you find interesting; as your insights and perspective are important. The voice of everyday citizens gets drowned out in the nonsense of our mass media and TV personality driven politics. From the inbox: To the...
A carbon border tax can curb climate change
Dieter Helm in the Financial Times: The Kyoto agreement tried to get countries to set carbon production caps. These were to be translated into permits, and then traded. Europe led the way with such a system with the US supposed to follow (as soon as President George W. Bush had gone). But the strategy came unstuck at Copenhagen and there is now no prospect of a binding worldwide system any time...
The Bush Tax Cuts and Infrastructure Spending
Mark Thoma: The Economist asks: Should the Bush tax cuts be extended? Here are the answers, including one from me: Tom Gallagher Yes, but only for a short period Michael Bordo Yes, their benefits outweigh their costs Alberto Alesina Maintain the cuts and reduce spending to trim deficits Guillermo Calvo Yes, as the rich will drive recovery Mark Thoma Only some, and the saved revenue should...
The Bush Tax Cuts and Infrastructure Spending
Mark Thoma: The Economist asks: Should the Bush tax cuts be extended? Here are the answers, including one from me: Tom Gallagher Yes, but only for a short period Michael Bordo Yes, their benefits outweigh their costs Alberto Alesina Maintain the cuts and reduce spending to trim deficits Guillermo Calvo Yes, as the rich will drive recovery Mark Thoma Only some, and the saved revenue should...
Intelligent trade policy
Angry Bear Those that have been responsible for intelligent trade policy have “other irons” in the fire, namely, representing companies that have made a fortune outsourcing to China.From the EPIs Robert E. Scott (Senior International Economist and Director of International Programs, Economic Policy Institute) post at Huffington Post: “An op-ed published in...
