Month: April 2011
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Right-Wing Media Attack Obama For Releasing His Long-Form Birth Certificate Like They Demanded
I just think it’s kind of unnecessary for me to comment on this… After weeks of demanding President Obama “produce the birth certificate” so it can be “over [and] done with,” right-wing media figures have begun attacking Obama for releasing his long-form birth certificate, claiming it was done as a “distraction” and complaining it was…
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We Should Make Janitors Work Longer Because Lawyers Are Living Longer
I think that was Krugman’s line; can’t remember who I stole it from. But in any case he’s got the facts on the ground posted today: Raising the Medicare Age – NYTimes.com. Related posts: To claim “objectivism” at 20 is predictable. To claim “objectivism” at 60 is plain idiocy. Did I Mention Mentioning that…
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Barack Obama, Constitutional Conservative?
I’ve been just as frustrated as other progressives with the Obama administration’s lack of … progressivity. And I’ve been befuddled by why it hasn’t happened. Why didn’t he take the lead on redesigning our health-insurance system, for instance, instead taking the politically bruising months-long course of delegating its drafting to Congress? Here’s a possiblity. Obama…
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Oh Yeah: Crowding Out Has Been a Huge Problem
Cross-posted at Angry Bear. Right-wing economists love to claim that government spending “crowds out” private spending, especially investment spending on fixed assets. It’s probably true at some level and in some situations. But if it was true for postwar America, you’d expect to see some evidence in the historical data, right? Not so much: Note:…
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The Flat Tax, Short Version
Reading the many web comments on my flat tax proposal, I find that many didn’t actually read it (I do go on…), or understand it. So here’s the short version. Not so short, as it turns out, but I hope easier to grasp quickly. Unlike the many commenters who failed to do so, please at…
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More On Being Wrong
Barry Ritholz links to Kathryn Schulz’s TED talk on Being Wrong (I wrote about her book here), and comments, I dont know about anyone else, but I am wrong all the time. I expect to be wrong. Which led me to clear up some of thinking that I’ve been doing since my last post on the…
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I’m Just Sayin’…
abacaxigod.jpg 1024×683. No related posts.
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It’s About Bloody Time. Sheesh.
Nate Silver: Gay Marriage Opponents Now in Minority – NYTimes.com. Related posts: Conservatives Love to Point Out that Personal Incentives Matter Polling the Pollster Pollers: Obama Still Strong Guns and Gun Deaths, State by State Must. Make. Gubmint. Smaller. Proofiness!
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Best Line of the Week
HT: @felixsalmon No related posts.
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Are Tea Partiers Copping a Clue? Paul Ryan Gets Booed
Paul Ryan Gets Booed By Constituents For Opposing Tax Hikes On Rich (VIDEO) | TPMDC. Related posts: “Anybody else have a question besides this guy?” What’s Wrong with Vouchers? Neoclassical economists don’t understand neoclassical economics Damn this guy sounds like me Bring Back the Philosopher Kings
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It’s “Obviously” a Spending Problem
Well, unless “obvious” means “conforming to reality.” Here just the latest: I don’t think I have to draw the trend line for you, or point out that the U.S. spends less than every thriving, prosperous country but two. Update: Way less. To spend is to owe? « Consider the Evidence. Related posts: Is Big Government…
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“Anybody else have a question besides this guy?”
PAWLENTY: I like Paul Ryan’s plan directionally. I don’t think it’s fully filled out in terms of the fact that we still have to address Social Security and when we issue our plan later in this process, it will have some differences[…] VOLSKY: Do you support the Medicare cuts in his plan that he keeps…
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Weimar, Zimbabwe, Here We Come
Or maybe not. Megan McArdle invokes one of the two standard bogeymen to suggest — classic fallacy of the extremes — that It Could Happen To Us. And I cannot disagree too strongly with the notion that the US can’t default because we can always print money. It isn’t even technically true–Zimbabwe eventually ran out of…
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Do You See a Pattern Here?
Australia: Just wait. Off the Charts Blog | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities | Blog Archive | Top Ten Tax Charts. Related posts: Meritocratic Opportunity: On the Decline The Poor Get Poorer Where Did Our Debt Come From? – James Fallows – Politics – The Atlantic John McCain Pledges to Eradicate Government This Time…
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If You’re in New York, Run Don’t Walk: Starts This Morning
And if you’re dweebishly interested in this subject like I am. 20th Annual Hyman P. Minsky Conference on the State of the US and World Economies I just heard about this, and only because my daughter was recently admitted to Bard. (Their Levy Economics Institute is running the event.) This event appears to be free.…
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What’s Wrong with Vouchers?
James Kwak explains why Paul Ryan’s notion for vouchers replacing Medicare doesn’t work: If you are forty years old and healthy now, you simply cannot insure yourself against the risk that you will be uninsurably unhealthy when you are sixty-five. You retire, and you lose your health insurance. But you’ll have vouchers, right? You can use them…
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Don’t Like “Money Printing”? Then Stop Borrowing. Whip Inflation Now!
Cross-posted at Angry Bear. There’s a widespread conception that “money printing” by the government causes inflation, and that “money printing” = government deficit spending. But people don’t realize that: 1. Most money “printing” is done by banks, not government. 2. Government deficit spending is only one of four flows that affect inflation. Here’s how borrowing…
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Want a Flat Tax? I Got a Flat Tax for You
Crossposted at Angry Bear. One percent of financial assets. Personal and corporate. Annually. With somewhere north of $55 trillion in U.S. financial assets out there (2009, down from $63 trillion in 2007), a Financial Assets Tax would generate more than $550 billion in annual revenue. What could we do with that revenue? Here are some options:…
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“Figures might not lie, but liars sure know how to figure.”
Unassailable winner of The Quote of the Week Contest. Courtesy of Jazzbumpa’s dad. Related posts: Best Line of the Week: Not-So-True Conservatives When Do Humans Want to Share the Wealth? To claim “objectivism” at 20 is predictable. To claim “objectivism” at 60 is plain idiocy. Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and…