Baddies from Planet Retard*

Mark Thoma:

The unemployment crisis needs to be attacked vigorously, and we need aggressive action from both monetary and fiscal policymakers. But neither the Fed nor Congress has the will to do more than half-hearted measures at this point, and even that might be too much for Congress.

I wish the people making these decisions had to face what households struggling to find a job endure daily -- the world policymakers see from their insulated shell is very different from the world of the unemployed. Maybe then they'd finally get it and, more importantly, do what needs to be done.

Jared Bernstein: Fed Does Twist


Brad DeLong: Good To See But 1/10 of What We Should Be Doing


Dean Baker: Why Do The Bankers Decide How Many People Will Be Unemployed?


Doug Henwood: Does Productivity = Unemployment?


Paul Krugman: New Developments in the Political Business Cycle

But now there’s a new wrinkle. As Stan Collender says, it’s hard to see the GOP letter threatening Ben Bernanke if he does anything to help the economy as anything but an attempt to invert the political business cycle, pressuring the central bank to ensure a weak economy in the year before the election.

Got to give the GOP points for innovation.

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*quote I overheard from a teen upset with the incompetence and malfeasance he was witnessing.