Policy teams from the six groups taking part in the Solutions Initiative—the American Enterprise Institute, the Bipartisan Policy Center, the Center for American Progress, the Economic Policy Institute, The Heritage Foundation, and the Roosevelt Institute Campus Network (representing the perspective of younger Americans)—all provided comprehensive plans to meet the budget challenge head on. The goal… Continue reading Six plans to balance the budget
Category: economics
Embracing unorthodox tax plans
The Republican field is filled with potential candidates who have called for radical overhauls of the tax code, the abolition of the IRS, an end to the Federal Reserve central bank— and even a return to the gold standard. From Politico Unorthodox is polite for crank. Fair discussion, far more fair then I would be.
Gold is not an investment, it’s a speculation
Investments are made by evaluating underlying value. Speculative bets are made by looking at the price of something and simply hoping the price goes up. Investing is about value; gambling is about price. Gold has no real underlying value. I know there is a market for it. I know it is real, just like real… Continue reading Gold is not an investment, it’s a speculation
The Conservative Recovery Continues
this is the recovery conservatives say they want. The balance of economic activity is shifting away from the public sector and toward the private sector. So why is it that we have people running around the country—not just ignorant grassroots folks or talk show entrepreneurs, but billionaire political organizers like David Koch—screaming about incipient socialism?… Continue reading The Conservative Recovery Continues
Robots and Utopia
if robots are able to drastically eliminate the need to pay human beings to provide physical goods and services, then there’ll be plenty of people with plenty of time and their hands to create cultural goods for free. We’re talking about a future in which there’s neither a shortage of goods nor a shortage of… Continue reading Robots and Utopia
Future of the Federal Reserve Panel Videos Now Online.
The videos from the panels at the Roosevelt Institute’s Future of the Federal Reserve Event are now online. There’s a video for introductory remarks by Joe Stiglitz and then videos for the full-length panels as well as videos broken down by speakers. From Future of the Federal Reserve Panel Videos Now Online. | Rortybomb Worth… Continue reading Future of the Federal Reserve Panel Videos Now Online.
Who Benefits From Bubbles?
in several years during the last decade the top 400 accounted for more than 10 percent of all capital gains income in America. Just 400 people! Conservatives often try to sell the notion that reducing the capital gains tax is about helping small business people. But you really want to think of the fact that… Continue reading Who Benefits From Bubbles?
This Generation’s Low-Hanging Fruit
Timothy B Lee challenges Tyler Cowen’s thesis. Lee argues that we are not in the middle of an economic stagnation but that we’ve gotten worse at measuring progress: Every time the software industry displaces a special purpose device, our standard of living improves but measured GDP falls. If what you care about is government revenue,… Continue reading This Generation’s Low-Hanging Fruit
An Insurance Company With An Army
When you talk about federal spending, you’re overwhelmingly talking about Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and defense. And the bulk of the insurance — all of Social Security and Medicare, about 2/3 of Medicaid — is for the elderly and disabled. … Put it this way: Whenever someone talks about making government smaller, he should be… Continue reading An Insurance Company With An Army
Reducing Health Costs With Voluntary Death Panels
If you’re 77 years old and receive a medical diagnosis that implies you have eighteen months to live without treatment, the government will spend large sums of money on trying to extent your life twelve months further. The government won’t pay for you to take a trip to visit the Church of the Nativity in… Continue reading Reducing Health Costs With Voluntary Death Panels