Month: August 2011
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Why The Fed Hates Inflation More Than It Hates Unemployment
It’s really not complicated; the Fed is run by creditors: David Levey, a former managing director at Moody’s and another critic of Fed inaction, points out that banks often have more to lose from inflation than from unemployment. Inflation reduces the future value of the money that their debtors – homeowners, car buyers, small businesses and…
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Rick Perry Got a D in Principles of Economics
His last semester of college. He was only taking one other course. GPA: 2.22 Rick Perrys Texas A&M Transcript. Related posts: McCain’s Steel Ceiling: Who Loves Ya, Baby? It Could Have Been My Kids. Or Yours. Engineering a Permanent Democratic Majority 1798: Congress Passes Socialized Medicine and Mandates Private Health Insurance Obama takes 62% in…
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“The Reagan Revolution in One Graph”
Steve Randy Waldman’s tweet, pointing to this: Incredible Shrinking Workers’ Income | FrumForum. Here’s another look at it, from a couple of years back. Related posts: White Married Christians: The Decline and Fall of the GOP Does the Minimum Wage Increase Productivity? Did the Baby Boom Labor Force Surge Cause The Great Inflation?…
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The macroeconomics of double pole dancing
If you’re like me you’ll only understand a third of this Nick Rowe post, and grasp the rest somewhat dimly. But it’s still required reading for (even amateur) money wonks, if nothing else for the video at the end. Worthwhile Canadian Initiative: The macroeconomics of double pole dancing. Related posts: Nick Rowe: “If it wasn’t…
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Index the Payroll Tax to Unemployment?
I’ve been spouting for a long time that the Earned Income Tax Credit (our largest means-tested cash transfer program) should be indexed to unemployment, creating an automatic stabilizer in the economy. But Traders Crucible has what I’ve decided is a far better idea: index payroll taxes to unemployment — decreasing them during downturns and bringing…
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Red States Sucking the Federal Teat
Just a reminder for all those red-state debt-ceiling hawks out there. Here’s where the debt came from: How do you think state budgets would look if all those in-the-red red states had to pay back all the federal money they’ve gotten from the prosperous blue states? Start this at the three-minute point: Related posts: “Its…
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The Deal and the Dive: Using Occam’s Razor to Parse the Results
I don’t get why people make this so complicated. We got a deal. Stock market investors didn’t like the deal. Not surprising: It was a profoundly sh***y deal that ensures somewhere between sh***y growth and a second recession. (I guess stockholders believe in the stimulative effects of stimulative government spending…) End of explanation, no?* Except…
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How’s That Confidence Fairy Thingy Workin’ Out for Youse Guys?
Dow down more than 400 points as market plunge continues – latimes.com. Related posts: Damn this guy sounds like me Screw the Rich to Protect Super-Rich Campaign Contributors? Study Sez: Rich States Are Full of Swingers Jim Manzi Disappoints on the Devastation of Lead and Crime Why is the militia clause there at all?