Category: Economics

Yves Smith points to this passage from Ron Suskind’s Confidence Men, about the business model behind private-equity funds: Charlie Hallac, a top deputy to Larry Fink at BlackRock and head of the firm’s analytical arm, BlackRock Solutions, distilled it down with precision: “Of every twenty deals, the large aggressive PE firm expects seventeen of the…

I had one of those big Aha moments earlier this year — as is so often the case, while reading one of Steve Randy Waldman’s posts. Karl Marx was a “sharp analyst”, but a “terrible futurist”, he says (emphasis mine for easy skimming; read his whole post, in fact everything he’s written). … the story…

I find the following graph singularly depressing. It shows the chances of becoming unemployed (red), and the chances of exiting unemployment (blue), since 1967. The odds of becoming unemployed today are basically identical to 1967. The probability of exiting unemployment — the “escape rate” — has plummeted over that period. (Though it was roughly flat…

Tyler Cowen: Anyone — Keynesian or otherwise — paying attention to the last thirty years of empirical macro never expected much crowding out of financial capital in the first place. Google hit #3 out of 952,000, from June 1, 2011: Two words explain all you need to know about our national economic debate. I think…

“When cronyism thrives, innovation, prosperity, and freedom suffer because small innovative firms get shoved outside,” she said. “Only by empowering the individual will our economies be rescued.” Funny that she doesn’t mention the opposite alternative — disempowering the cronies (politically and financially). Could that possibly be because she are one? via Slovakia rejects Euro bailout…

I’m reminded of the joke about two ladies meeting at the races at Ascot. “Oh dahling,” says the first, “what a wonderful hat. Where did you get it?” The second, looking down her nose condescendingly and slightly embarrassed, sneers, “Dear, we have our hats.” Do American employers have all the workers they need or want given…

Update: See a follow-up post to this post and the comments, here. Randall Wray bills this image — in wonkish humor that I know many of my Modern Monetary Theory (MMT)-savvy readers will get — as “The Most Subversive Sign Seen at the ‘Occupy Wall Street’ Protest.” Love it! Which prompts me to finally publish this post,…

I’m actually not going where you might think based on this post’s title. I’ve been there often enough. Instead: In response to my post of this on Facebook, a friend of mine (yes, a real-world friend) writes: I am one of those people who has been severely affected by the job crisis. I am educated…

I was poking around in data as is my wont, sussing things out, and put the following graph together. It quite caught my eye. The five-year averages make it a lot easier to see the big picture. At first glance this looks like a profound secular shift in the economy. (Tyler Cowen: Wow, that is a…

Pretty much says it all… No related posts.

Compared to, for instance, the Bush years, that hotbed of slashed regulations and rising business investment? Oh, wait. But hey: don’t let facts interfere with your fondest fantasies. Here’s the fairy story: …employment growth is sluggish because firms are turning down … opportunities to make goods and services that are profitable today (current sales are very profitable) because they fear…

Yes, the depths of conservative hypocrisy are bottomless, but this really takes all. From The Nation (ht Brad Delong, emphasis mine): Koch invited Hayek to serve as the institute’s “distinguished senior scholar” … Hayek initially declined Koch’s offer … Hayek explains that he underwent gall bladder surgery in Austria earlier that year, which only heightened…

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…

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?…

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…