Saturday, July 22, 2017
Friday, July 21, 2017
DeLong quotes Avent on the recovery
Must-Read: Ryan Avent: MAKING MONETARY POLICY GREAT AGAIN: "Obama’s response to the economic crisis... the timidity of his stimulus plan... his failure to provide broad support to struggling homeowners... his premature pivot to deficit cutting...
http://democracyjournal.org/magazine/45/making-monetary-policy-great-again/
...While Roosevelt’s New Deal programs left an indelible mark on the American economy and society, it was his decisive monetary action that saved America from continuing depression. On just his third day... Roosevelt declared a bank holiday... suspended... the... gold standard... a policy of reflation. The economic response was immediate.... Obama would not pursue any comparably radical policy.... His Administration left the hard work of rehabilitating the economy to the Federal Reserve, while the federal government turned to deficit reduction....
The decades prior to the crisis taught political leaders that economic management was the Fed’s job, one it could handle ably. Experience since the financial crisis strongly suggests that assumption was mistaken. It should not have taken six years to return the unemployment rate to the pre-crisis level, nor should so much of the reduction in unemployment have come in the form of frustrated workers leaving the labor force. American incomes should not have been allowed to fall below the pre-crisis trend, and at least some of that shortfall ought to have been made up. Most critically, now, nearly ten years after the start of the Great Recession, the economy should be far better prepared to deal with the next crisis, not trapped with interest rates stuck near zero and the labor market still signaling that more people could be put to work for longer hours at higher rates of pay.
As the Great Recession recedes into the past, the sense that urgent change in the making of economic policy is needed also fades...
Thursday, July 20, 2017
Wednesday, July 19, 2017
Chapo Trap House
Calling them the "dirtbag left" is playing into the centrist Bernie Bro meme.
The Dirtbag Left and the Problem of Dominance Politics by Jeet Heer
The Dirtbag Left and the Problem of Dominance Politics by Jeet Heer
Tuesday, July 18, 2017
Monday, July 17, 2017
Game of Thrones season 7 episode 1
What's the gift Euron Greyjoy plans to bring Cersei? Tyrion's head. A horn which controls dragons?
Does Ayra wipe out Ed Sheeran and the nice Lannister soldiers? Probably.
Doesn't really matter who leads the Karstarks and Umbers. The White Walkers are heading straight for their castles in the north east and will overwhelm them.
I read speculation that the Night King is really in the west as the Hounds saw a mountain, which are only located in the west. That means the army of the dead traveled west pretty quickly. Bran will know!
Jim Broadbent!
Spoilers below!
Previews have Yara making out with the Red Viper's widow?
New Republic discussion
Ask the Maester
Saturday, July 15, 2017
It's the Debt Stupid by Steve Roth
It's the Debt Stupid by Steve Roth
If you go further and allow that wages and prices can inflate at different rates (which you must, given recent decades), you have extremely large and changing differentials between price inflation, wage inflation, and (especially) asset-price inflation.
Thursday, July 13, 2017
Tuesday, July 11, 2017
Monday, July 10, 2017
Sunday, July 09, 2017
THE CRISIS OF POSITIVE-SUM CAPITALISM by Chris Dillow
THE CRISIS OF POSITIVE-SUM CAPITALISM by Chris Dillow
- With savings low and debt high, households might respond to higher wages by saving more. If so, we’ll not get higher aggregate demand and hence incentives to invest. There’s a warning here from the 70s. One reason why the positive-sum game broke down then was that workers saved increasing proportions of their wages.
These doubts don’t make me side with neoliberalism. They just make me think that wage-led growth is nothing like sufficient.
Medicare, Medicaid
Medicare:
In 2015, Medicare provided health insurance for over 55 million—46 million people age 65 and older and nine million younger people.[2] On average, Medicare covers about half of the health care charges for those enrolled.
"Many look to the Veterans Health Administration as a model of lower cost prescription drug coverage. Since the VHA provides healthcare directly, it maintains its own formulary and negotiates prices with manufacturers. Studies show that the VHA pays dramatically less for drugs than the PDP plans Medicare Part D subsidizes.[138][139] One analysis found that adopting a formulary similar to the VHA’s would save Medicare $14 billion a year (over 10 years the savings would be around $140 billion).[140]"
In 2015, Medicare provided health insurance for over 55 million—46 million people age 65 and older and nine million younger people.[2] On average, Medicare covers about half of the health care charges for those enrolled.
payroll tax. universal, expensive, b/c government doesn't negotiate as in other countries.
Medicaid cost, care
Saturday, July 08, 2017
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