The Red White and Blue Pill
Harder for Americans to Rise From Lower Rungs
Americans enjoy less economic mobility than their peers in Canada and much of Western Europe. The mobility gap has been widely discussed in academic circles, but a sour season of mass unemployment and street protests has moved the discussion toward center stage.
Low taxes and anemic public services haven’t made for a more dynamic meritocracy so of course the right wants to fix this with lower taxes and fewer services.
Rortybomb: Best of 2011 Edition
This is the best blog on economics, finance and all things money related. And this is Mike’s picks for the best of 2011. Worth a read.
The 10 Worst Economic Ideas of 2011
9-9-9 and Austerity top the list. Worth a read.
right now, there are people declaring that our best days are behind us, that the economy has suffered a general loss of dynamism, that it’s unrealistic to expect a quick return to anything like full employment. There were people saying the same thing in the 1930s! Then came the approach of World War II, which… Continue reading Untitled
the Austrian/Ron Paul types made some very strong predictions about inflation — and rightly, given their model of how the world works. In their version of reality, it really isn’t possible to triple the monetary base without dire effects on the price level. In my version of reality, of course, that’s not only possible but… Continue reading Untitled
Paul is unique among the GOP contenders, or for that matter among politicians in general, in making monetary policy his signature issue. So it’s worth noting that he is among those who have been wrong about everything in this slump. Here’s a sample from earlier this year… Speaking of People Whose Models Have Failed –… Continue reading Untitled
more austerity isn’t going to convince the bond markets that Italy is just fine, let alone cut interest rates sufficiently to make contractionary policies expansionary. In fact, austerity — at least if not accompanied by major policy changes in Frankfurt — is probably self-defeating, because it will hurt the Italian economy more than it helps… Continue reading Untitled
Loser liberalism, by implying that all fortunes are created equal, alternately goes too easy on scoundrels and comes down too hard on people who are merely prosperous. Chris Paul is in the one percent, but he’s also a kid from a working class background who’s spent his entire career being structurally underpaid and victimized by… Continue reading Untitled
If the problem is years of “living beyond our means” the solution dictated by cosmic justice is years of laboring in auto plants building cars for South Koreans to drive. If the question is “why are we consuming so much less than we produced” the answer may be “it’s because in the past we consumed… Continue reading Untitled
Manufacturing activity is contracting across Europe and most of Asia, data showed on Thursday, and a Chinese official declared that the world economy faces a worse situation than in 2008 when Lehman Brothers collapsed. Factories stall worldwide, U.S. jobless claims rise Of course I expect that the flat-earth economists to declare that this is due… Continue reading Untitled