Quantcast
Channel: Political economics
Browsing all 37 articles
Browse latest View live

How to be Irresponsible

It's a bit rare that I cross post here but this post from Christopher Demuth is worth reading in its entirety.In a nutshell, it exposes the loss of focus of both Keynesianism and supply side economics....

View Article



The (Not Quite) Worst Deal Imaginable

Well, I can say this for the current fiscal cliff deal.  It is not quite the worst deal imaginable but it does come close.  Here are some immediate and top of mind reactions.  I reserve the right to...

View Article

A Potential Solution to the Debt Ceiling

I'd like to take one argument that I have heard a lot of folks, particularly on the left make, and use that to make an argument about how we might manage the debt ceiling.  First the argument and what...

View Article

Almost but Not Quite

Well, House Republicans are getting closer.  They've figured out that they need to pass a debt ceiling increase but they haven't figured out how to do it yet.When you compare their approach to what...

View Article

How the Mighty Have Fallen

Well, it's official.  Keysianism has jumped the shark.  I think it's worth reviewing the bidding here.If we go back to the original theory of Keynes, yes there was deficit spending but it was supposed...

View Article


Is Paul Ryan the Only Keynesian Left?

I found this post at the always good TaxVox blog interesting.  It lays out the positions of the parties on reducing the deficit.  It contrasts the position of Paul Ryan (who wants to balance the budget...

View Article

On the meaning of spending "cuts"

Have a look at this framing of future spending from the TaxVox blog at the Tax Policy Center.Ryan’s promise to balance the budget in a decade with no tax increases implies cuts in federal spending...

View Article

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

The Varying Meanings of "Fair Share"

I had what may be a bit of an epiphany this morning about why I can never understand the arguments that the President and others make for the "rich" paying "their fair share."When I hear those words, I...

View Article


Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

The Fallacy of Causation and Solution

This post from Kevin Drum is a good example of one of the fallacies that seems to be making the rounds these days.  In the body of a typical argument about why Republicans are unserious on the deficit...

View Article


Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Real Budgeting is Still Better

As promised, I've updated my "real" budget projections on the basis of the CBO forecast that was just released (more observations from the CBO report coming up soon).  A quick summary of the...

View Article

Assume Everything Goes Your Way...

That's more or less my take on the current projections offered by the CBO.  To summarize and build on the work of William GaleThey assume:1.  The economy reaches full employment/output by 2017 and...

View Article

How much growth does it take not to "cut" spending?

Here's a nice quote from Speaker Pelosi today."The fact is we've had plenty of spending cuts, $1.6 trillion in the Budget Control Act. What we need is growth," Pelosi said in an interview on "Fox News...

View Article

A Balanced Plan?

The White House is fond of arguing that our changes in fiscal policy should be "balanced" between tax increases and spending cuts.  As a recent example, see this from Dan Pfeiffer.  In it, Mr. Pfeiffer...

View Article


Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

The contraction in State and Local spending

I'm getting a little bit tired of reading about the state and local government contraction.  So I decided to look it up.  Here's the graphSo state and local governments are contracting by spending...

View Article

When $85 billion is Really Less than $10 billion

There's been lots of reporting and hyperventilating about the sequester, so imagine the sighs of relief that must have gone up when the Senate Democrats announced their replacement bill.  Of course, it...

View Article


Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

The Tax Rates of the 50s and 60s

You can't throw a stick without hitting someone saying that everything would be fine if only we would go back to the tax rates of the 1950s and 1960s.  Normally, when this point is made, it is in a...

View Article

The Times Should Know Better

You can expect the New York Times Op Ed page to be liberal but you should also have a reasonable expectation that it be factual.  Today, it published an editorial that may be the least factual thing...

View Article


The Impact of "A Balanced Approach"

All the discussion from the President has been about the need for "a balanced approach" to the sequester which, roughly stated, means replacing half of the spending cuts with tax increases.  Let's...

View Article

Sometimes It's Even Worse

Well, I'll admit I was wrong.  A week or so ago, before the CBO score was out, I estimated that the Senate sequester replacement plan would defer most of the deficit reduction until later and do very...

View Article

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Another Way of Looking at the CBO Forecast

You wind up reading a lot of these days about budget cuts.  Indeed, in yesterday's New York Times, you had Steven Rattner making the claim that the President and Congress had already introduced...

View Article
Browsing all 37 articles
Browse latest View live




Latest Images