Where Did the Bush Tax Cuts Go?

The issue is who we are and what we want to be. A lot of the comments concern the fact that of course most of the tax cuts go to the top one percent because they pay the most taxes. The real point should is whether the tax system should be progressive or not. The tax cuts to the top 1% did not have to happen.


Economist's View: Where Did the Bush Tax Cuts Go?

Why do other countries care more about health care cost control?

The difference in spending is so great and the difference in outcome is so small that it is really hard to understand why we tolerate spending more.


Marginal Revolution: Why do other countries care more about health care cost control?

The puzzle of private equity

It is still not clear if private equity adds value to anyone but the private equity managers.

The puzzle of private equity | Buttonwood's notebook | Economist.com

Solar Energy

How many panels would be required to power the world?
The answer is simple the logistics of building panels and grid are daunting.
Also there is the problem of night.

AreaRequired1000.jpg (JPEG Image, 1000x706 pixels)

Fatal Infection | Information Is Beautiful

Now wash your hands

Fatal Infection | Information Is Beautiful

The True value of the Net

Gives us sequences like this.

The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan

What Startups Are Really Like

What Startups Are Really Like

Chinese growth looking strong

Chinese growth is 9 percent. But the stimulus measures account for 15 percent of GDP.

Chinese growth looking strong | Free exchange | Economist.com

And pig farmers are buying up copper.

“Bohemian Bankruptcy”

Bankruptcy to a song.

“Bohemian Bankruptcy” « naked capitalism

Third time lucky

Marriage in America: Third time lucky | The Economist

Lose the maid

The Sex-Housework Link - WSJ.com

Frontline – The Warning? « naked capitalism

Frontline – The Warning? « naked capitalism

Glass Steagall

Why Volcker is wrong and you cannot return to a world of commercial and investment banks.

Paul Volcker, Mervyn King, Glass Steagall, and the Real TBTF Problem « naked capitalism

AllAboutAlpha.com» Featured Post » Fisheries, tipping points, and disease “super-spreaders” in Boston

Global Absolute Return Conference


AllAboutAlpha.com» Featured Post » Fisheries, tipping points, and disease “super-spreaders” in Boston

http://www.global-arc.net/

The Sun That Rises On Shanghai Sets On Tokyo « China Bystander

Tokyo and Japan are losing their place in Asia.

The Sun That Rises On Shanghai Sets On Tokyo « China Bystander

Governments Should Tax Bank Bonuses - WSJ.com

The WSJ is demanding social justice and denying the supremacy of markets.
The gall of the investment banks and banks is too much even for them.

Governments Should Tax Bank Bonuses - WSJ.com

Securitized Loans Are 5X More Likely to Be Delinquent | The Big Picture

A nice visual of the securitization process.

Securitized Loans Are 5X More Likely to Be Delinquent | The Big Picture

*Sigh* Last Post on Superfreakonomics, I Promise - J. Bradford DeLong's Grasping Reality with All Eight Tentacles

If you are going to get Brad DeLong to review your book, make sure it is before your final draft. DeLong rips Levitt and Dubner:

*Sigh* Last Post on Superfreakonomics, I Promise - J. Bradford DeLong's Grasping Reality with All Eight Tentacles

Just when you thought things were getting better.

The white house comment:
A White House spokesman, asked about the case, quipped: “I’ve found that, actually, the children of biracial couples can do pretty good.”

Louisiana Justice of the Peace Denies Marriage License to Interracial Couple - Associated Content - associatedcontent.com

Not the pride of Harvard Class '83.

http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/vitter-refuses-to-comment-on-justice-who-wont-marry-interracial-couples.php

Nine Months into the Obama Administration: A Look - J. Bradford DeLong's Grasping Reality with All Eight Tentacles

Nine Months into the Obama Administration: A Look - J. Bradford DeLong's Grasping Reality with All Eight Tentacles

The Simple Life: Infantrymen maintain, improve austere Afghanistan FOB

"It's like being at summer camp."

The Simple Life: Infantrymen maintain, improve austere Afghanistan FOB

Economist's View: "How the Servant Became a Predator: Finance’s Five Fatal Flaws"

What is wrong with finance.

Economist's View: "How the Servant Became a Predator: Finance’s Five Fatal Flaws"

And I thought it was kinda pretty...

"In South Kent, about 13 miles into the trip, we stopped to examine the covered bridge at Kent Falls, which was gray and unadorned and paved with cement. It was, I’m guessing, the least exciting covered bridge in the world."
NYT travel

Vernon Smith on Elinor Ostrom

On Nobel prize winner Elinor Ostrom.
The commons are not always tragic.


Marginal Revolution: Vernon Smith on Elinor Ostrom

Cost Cuts Lift Profits but Hinder Economy - WSJ.com

"Things are better, but compared to what"
How will the economy grow with private net investment at -0.1 percent of gdp?
Cost Cuts Lift Profits but Hinder Economy - WSJ.com

The Root Causes of Divorce:

Add another one:
"Increase in opportunity cost of maintaining marriage".
The Root Causes of Divorce: The Usual Suspects, Bryan Caplan | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty

The Problem with Economics

Much of economic papers in behavioral science are "awful amateur-hour sociology".


D-squared Digest -- FOR bigger pies and shorter hours and AGAINST more or less everything else

Rebuilding employment

The most important economic problem facing the US today: how to grow jobs.There are only three ways to do it:
to expand employment in existing companies, to stimulate the creation of new businesses, and to recruit relocation of existing businesses from other regions.

UnderstandingSociety: Rebuilding employment


But the room for policy is not clear. The best, but long term effort, is to increase the number of highly educated employees in the area.
"The goal of increasing the percentage of baccalaureate-level adults in a region is a crucial element of our future economic success"

A CRE News Summary

Vacancy in commercial is growing. This means that banks will be forced to take another round of writedowns. Are they ready for it?

Calculated Risk: A CRE News Summary

Why do women have sex? |

Why do women have sex? | Salon Life

WeeklyClaimsOct8

People are saying that this is a good number?
Still a lot of job losses compared to normal times.

WeeklyClaimsOct8.jpg (image)

Outsourcing

Why outsourcing is good for the average worker.

More American Workers Outsourcing Own Jobs Overseas | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

U6

U6 reaches 17 percent

Table A-12. Alternative measures of labor underutilization

Strip Mall Vacancy Rate Hits 10.3%, Highest Since 1992

Jim the Realtor is obviously not looking at commercial. Disconnect now between resi and commercial


Calculated Risk: Reis: Strip Mall Vacancy Rate Hits 10.3%, Highest Since 1992

"No shortage of buyers"

Jim the Realtor turns bullish.
But the question is whether the tax credit is the impetus or is there pure demand.
Jim thinks that the demand is real.

Calculated Risk: Jim the Realtor: "No shortage of buyers"

Fed Worries about CRE Grow

The next shoe to drop. Although it seems that much of this is already priced in the market, banks will have another round of bad earnings related to CRE. Vacancy rates reached 16%.

Calculated Risk: Fed Worries about CRE Grow

China's 60th Anniversary national day - timelapse and slow motion - 7D and 5DmkII on Vimeo

Happy
60th
China's 60th Anniversary national day - timelapse and slow motion - 7D and 5DmkII on Vimeo