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Thursday, April 26, 2012

The Only Reasonable Response Is Alarm

The Only Reasonable Response Is Alarm:

 Believe me when I say that I’m not exaggerating for the sake of the election. The Ryan/Romney/Republican is a complete departure from the post-war political consensus in a way that wasn’t true of Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, or even McCain/Palin. Ryan wants to return to a world of tremendous social and economic injustice, and the GOP has signed on wholeheartedly. It’s alarming, and those of us who fall within the liberal tradition, that’s a necessary and reasonable response.

Mankiw Hearts “Governmental Competition”

Rebuttal of Mankiw

Bill Black: Mankiw Hearts “Governmental Competition” That Made Romney Rich � naked capitalism

American Austerity

American Austerity - NYTimes.com

Bernanke Responds

"I'm doing enough"

Bernanke Responds - NYTimes.com

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Just when you think you have heard it all in Washington...

Obama: Senate Candidate's Comments 'Off The Deep End' | TPM Livewire

Money Power & Wall Street

Money Power & Wall Street (Full Episode) | The Big Picture

Could a Strong Union Movement Save Social Security?

EconoSpeak: Could a Strong Union Movement Save Social Security?:

" Let's see if we can get this straight. For 40 years wages have gotten hammered by the "job creators". People become increasingly reliant on Social Security, but the system is in trouble because people do not earn enough to get enough taxes taken away to cover social security. The obvious answer is to destroy social security."

Earth to Paul Krugman

Monetary policy will not work because the link between inflation and higher wages is broken?
Not sure that they buy this explanation in China..


Daniel Alpert: Earth to Paul Krugman � naked capitalism:

"As a result of the foregoing, wages in the U.S. and other areas of the developed world are unable to “track” (that is, to follow along with, even on a lagging basis) the type of inflation resulting from the ocean of liquidity that quantitative and credit easing policy of the Fed, the ECB and the Bank of Japan has produced – generally speaking, inflation in highly tradable commodities and financial assets. No wage growth (because of the dampening effect of excess emerging market labor, always standing by to work cheaply where it can compete with endogenous U.S., European or Japanese labor)…no sustainable inflation. As a result, high levels of inflation tend to collapse economic activity, as limited per capita wages are shunted to oil and food, rather than to more expansionary forms of consumption."

Mitt Romney's Fantasy World

Mitt Romney's Fantasy World

"Markets of Magical Thinking"

"Markets of Magical Thinking" by Esther Dyson | Project Syndicate:

"I wish I had more faith in the system, but the problem is not a lack of good people, good investors, or good entrepreneurs. The problem is that, without regulation, bad people take advantage of the good ones. While regulation and restrictions may hamper small business, not all regulation and restrictions are useless."

Why Wall Street Hates President Obama

The culture that is Wall Street:

Why Wall Street Hates President Obama | Mother Jones

The Children of Fallujah

Robert Fisk: The Children of Fallujah - Sayef's story - Robert Fisk - Commentators - The Independent

Monday, April 23, 2012

Does Not Compute

Sign of the apocalypse.


…Meanwhile, the athletic budget for the current year is $99 million, an increase of more than $2 million from last year.  The increase alone would more than offset the savings supposedly gained by cutting computer science.



Does Not Compute — Marginal Revolution

A Good Offense

Hedging or Speculation?

The Epicurean Dealmaker: A Good Offense

Politics of Inequality

Timothy Noah, Charles Murray, and America’s Inequality : The New Yorker

Get Rich U

Will Stanford and Silicon Valley Transform Education? : The New Yorker

Big Data Fail

NSA Money Trap � Another Word For It:

It is not about the data. It is about who interprets and how they do it.

"The oft cited benefit of “making better decisions” is not empowered by “big data.”

If you are incapable of making good business decisions now, that will be true after you have “big data.”

The Jig Is Up: Time to Get Past Facebook and Invent a New Future

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Monday, April 16, 2012

Protect Our Police Officers with Better Limitations on Carrying Firearms

Actually, guns do kill people. Guns do kill police officers.

Brad DeLong: Protect Our Police Officers with Better Limitations on Carrying Firearms

Greg Mankiw gives pretty good argument for other side

Greg Mankiw gives pretty good argument for other side - Blog of the Century:

The choice is stark. Republicans do not want to help the poor and unfortunate.

"Is it just me, or did Mankiw pen an argument for Obama here? I and other liberals are happy to have local governments discipline each other through competition. We’re happy to outsource and to use market mechanisms in other ways, where appropriate. President Obama’s “race to the top” is one example of such thinking.

It’s the other piece I’m trying to understand. Mankiw asks “if government’s job is also to remedy many of life’s inequities…” As if this were a puzzling question. Especially in these troubled times, I find it strange to wonder."

It is not only about us.

A lot of the navel gazing about the decline of the US manufacturing sector was focused on the problems of the US society. Some of the trends; technology, globalization of the workforce and the growth of China impact everywhere.

Japan Fears 2011 Crises Speed Manufacturing Decline - NYTimes.com

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

In 2012, No Religious Center Is Holding - NYTimes.com

In 2012, No Religious Center Is Holding - NYTimes.com:

Otherwise known as politicians who want to get elected.
"one of the country’s fastest-growing religious groups — what the Barna Group calls the “unchurched Christian” bloc, consisting of Americans who accept some tenets of Christian faith without participating in any specific religious community."

Japanese Airlines to Steer Clear of North Korean Rocket

Headline of the day...

Japanese Airlines to Steer Clear of North Korean Rocket - Japan Real Time - WSJ

Beating the Odds to Survive the Titanic’s Sinking

Winners and survivors get to write the history..


Beating the Odds to Survive the Titanic’s Sinking - NYTimes.com

Fracking Boom Has U.S. Cutting Climate Warming Emissions

Interesting tradeoff. Fracking increases water pollution, but leads to lower levels of air pollution.



Fracking Boom Has U.S. Cutting Climate Warming Emissions - Bloomberg

The Empathy Gap

The Empathy Gap - NYTimes.com

Let's Blame the Unions

Waiting for Superman compounded that awful meme that unions are responsible for the state of the US school system. The worst schools, Texas etc, do not have high ratio of unions.

Let's Blame the Unions - NYTimes.com

Why Obama's JOBS Act Couldn't Suck Worse

Shot of Paul Ryan at the signing ceremony confirms that this bill is a sellout to Wall Street and against the interests of consumers.


Why Obama's JOBS Act Couldn't Suck Worse | Matt Taibbi | Rolling Stone

Paul Ryan And A Real Military Budget Don't Mix | Stan Collender's Capital Gains and Games

Gordon Adams: Paul Ryan And A Real Military Budget Don't Mix | Stan Collender's Capital Gains and Games

Time for Kelly to Drop Stop-and-Frisk in New York

Time for Kelly to Drop Stop-and-Frisk in New York - NYTimes.com:


" A particular melancholy attends to the public official who can imagine nothing better than the flawed present. As crime plumbs historic lows, Mr. Kelly insists that his officers question, sometimes with guns drawn, sometimes with young men’s faces to the pavement, more New Yorkers than the population of Boston."

Monday, April 09, 2012

Your Safety Net on Block Grants

Bock grants, giving money to the states to spend freely, strips programs of there counter cyclical impact.

Your Safety Net on Block Grants | Jared Bernstein | On the Economy

Where do people go when they drop out of the labor force?

Where do people go when they drop out of the labor force? - The Washington Post

About 35 percent of the people who have dropped out of the labor force since the recession began in 2007 do want a job, but they’ve become too discouraged to fire off resumes. That’s not good. The other 65 percent are people who have left the labor force and don’t want a job. Some of them are young and perhaps decided to go back to school. But the biggest chunk, by far, seems to be composed of Baby Boomers who have decided to retire early.

The Gullible Center

The Ryan problem.
" a proposal to deny health care (and many other essentials) to millions of Americans, while lavishing tax cuts on corporations and the wealthy — all while failing to reduce the budget deficit, unless you believe in Mr. Ryan’s secret revenue sauce. "

Why is the middle attracted to Republican policies? Three reasons. There is a built in antipathy for those who are perceived as free riders and a contrived image of the rich as self driven success stories. In actuality the rich, skilled in economic combat, able to control more resource and with better access to corporate and government power is able to take advantage of more government largess than other.  Second,  there is the argument that redistribution, for whatever reason, is just not fair. Finally the are the wedge social issues of civil rights, women's rights, mental ill rights, gay rights and non christian rights. The battle has been portrayed as a zero sum game.

The Gullible Center - NYTimes.com

Wednesday, April 04, 2012

Two Very Alternative Visions

Elections matter.

The President’s Speech and the Ryan Budget: Two Very Alternative Visions | Jared Bernstein | On the Economy

Social Darwinism or a Decent Society

Robert Reich (The Choice in 2012: Social Darwinism or a Decent Society):

"Here’s what Sumner had to say in his social-Darwinian classic “What Social Classes Owe to Each Other” (1883):

Let it be understood that we cannot go outside of this alternative: Liberty, inequality, survival of the fittest; not-liberty, equality, survival of the unfittest. The former carries society forward and favors all its best members; the latter carries society downwards and favors all its worst members.

Could there be a better summary of what today’s regressive Republicans believe?"

Manufacturing Jobs Still Matter, as Does the Dollar

Manufacturing Jobs Still Matter, as Does the Dollar | Beat the Press