To Rescue the Recovery, Start by Saving the States
During the debate over the stimulus program in early 2009, Senate Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell proposed, "If the money were lent rather than just granted, states would, I think, spend it...
View ArticleA Non-Hysterical Progressive Analysis of so called Social Security Cuts on...
I like to read and write about economics and finance but hesitate to do so because (1) it's hard to explain anything without explaining everything, and the draft diaries just get too long until I have...
View ArticleRepublicans Broke It. Will Democrats Own It?
Appearing on Face the Nation Sunday, Illinois Democratic Senator Dick Durbin warned House Speaker John Boehner about his paternity for the economic catastrophe resulting from a Republican failure to...
View ArticleFamous Liberal Economist On Obama & Fork in US Road
It's a given that, in a dynamic administration with diverse economic viewpoints, some voices will be wrong. What matters is that the right voices win out--that there is an incentive to be correct....
View ArticleRoubini: Marx was right. Capitalism may be destroying itself.
Nouriel Roubini is a mainstream economist who teaches at New York University and may be best known as one of the early predictors of the '08 crash. He is no Marxist. But today, in an interview with...
View ArticleModels of the economy: the Circular-Flow Model
In my previous life, not so long ago, I taught introduction to Microeconomics as I worked my way through grad school in Economics. Intro Micro is one of my favorite classes to teach, because it...
View ArticleModels of the economy: the short run, the long run, and the Keynesian Multiplier
In our previous installment, we talked about the idea of an economic model and introduced a large model for an economy. We got some good discussion out of it and ordered our thinking on how a modern...
View ArticleNaomi Klein buys into the "Iceland Revolution" mythos
So it was bound to happen sooner or later. Naomi Klein finally bought into the myth that's been circulating about how Iceland dealt with its monetary crisis -- even on a rec-listed diary here on...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Clik here to view.
Krugman and the Paradox of Austerity
PK's column today likens austerity policies to medieval bleeding-the-patient medical treatments - which seems an apt analogy. The column concludes with a point that Krugman has been building to for...
View ArticleTo Hell With the 1% - The Case for Debt Forgiveness
Here’s something interesting. Steve Keen is an economist at the University of Western Sydney in Australia, and is an expert in Hyman Minsky’s “Financial Instability Hypothesis.” The Financial...
View ArticleThe Most Important Economic Theorem You've Never Heard Of
Have you ever been accused by a conservative of being against "economic freedom”? One of my friends posted this the other day: It's impossible to be anti-capitalistic and pro-freedom at the same time....
View ArticleIs Rome Burning?
When in Rome, Run Like Hell! That might be prudent advice to politicians, investors, and Italian citizens these days, as the financial crisis threatens to overtake the world's eight largest economy. I...
View ArticleKrugman is Wrong: The Real Reason to Raise Taxes on the Rich
I always feel bad when I disagree with Paul Krugman, because he's one of the best spokesmen that the American left has right now. But today I must do that. He has the right conclusion- tax the rich-...
View ArticleThe Devil Is in the Details -- State and Local Taxes
Roughly a third to a half of our total tax load goes to state and local taxing authorities. It is well documented that state and local taxes are regressive--sometimes cruelly so. (If you have not yet...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Debunking Flat Out Delusional Ageist Claims On Daily Kos
There's a Rec List diary now that has spawned a litany of delusional comments about how bad older Americans have it. That is farcically not true: The typical U.S. household headed by a person age 65...
View ArticleObama on the Economy: 'We Didn't Know How Bad It Was'
During his presidency and after, George W. Bush was often criticized as the "nobody could have predicted president." After all, from 9/11 and the post-invasion chaos in Iraq to Hurricane Katrina's...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Working class heroes need public education
There are days when I wonder if our republic will survive the attacks of the right-wing. Their policies are the antitheses of or founding fathers' views yet the right dredges up images of our founders...
View ArticleIceland Solves Banking Crisis by Indicting Bankers, Forcing Mortgage Relief
Cross-posted from Middle Class Political Economist.
View Article"You pay what it takes to get the people you need, and if wages have to go...
When Peter Cappelli published an industry-admonishing article vis-a-vis the 'skills gap' in the Wall Street Journal, it attracted a good bit of notice. Steven Cherry at IEEE Spectrum recently...
View ArticleThe Stock Market IS Rigged: Big Investors Illegally Get Analysts' Info Before...
Now, I realize the fact that the stock market is rigged to the advantage of large investors may not be a shock to many of you. There is, however, breaking news in today's NYT, provided by the truly...
View Article
