Archive for September, 2010
The Whiny, and Undeserving, Rich
I have been meaning to blog about a lot of stuff recently, and I hope to do another post tomorrow with assorted tidbits. For now, since the Bush tax cuts are in the news, I wanted to alert people to the controversy over a certain U. of Chicago law professor who complained on a blog ...Read more.
Recession Long Over! (?); plus: Thank God for Bailouts!
(1) Recession Ended in June ’09, Declares NBER: The Business Cycle Dating Committee of the National Bureau of Economic Research declared yesterday that the Great Recession (not the term they used) had ended in June of 2009. From the press release: CAMBRIDGE September 20, 2010 – The Business Cycle Dating Committee of the National Bureau ...Read more.
Animal Spirits, by Akerlof and Shiller
Animal Spirits: How Human Psychology Drives the Economy, and Why It Matters for Global Capitalism, by George Akerlof and Robert Shiller, 2009 Yale Prof. Robert Shiller, author of Irrational Exuberance (2000; 2005), predicted the 2008 financial collapse years before it happened. The Case Shiller Home Price Index, founded with his partner, Wellesley Prof. Karl Case, ...Read more.
The Myth of Overcompensated Public Employees
Two new studies debunk the idea, prevalent in these days of threatened austerity, that public employees are “overcompensated.” It only ever meant that they supposedly get better pay and benefits than their private-sector counterparts (though that could just mean that the private-sector undercompensates). But it turns out that it really isn’t true. The first one ...Read more.
Basel; Older Workers; Mott’s Strike; IMF
(1) Basel III Underwhelms. Global banking regulators came out with new rules on Sunday, mostly regarding capital reserves. Here’s what the article in yesterday’s New York Times had to say: The new requirements will more than triple the amount of capital that banks must hold in reserve, an effort to move banks toward more conservative ...Read more.
A Plan B for Obama; Education Bubble
(1) What we would like Obama to do: From Thomas Palley’s contribution to Martin Wolf’s Economists’ Forum at FT.com: Plan B for Obama on the economy September 6, 2010 4:54pm By Thomas I. Palley TO: President Obama FROM: Thomas I. Palley RE: How to avoid stagnation and restore shared prosperity DATE: Labor Day, 2010 Mr ...Read more.
Immigrants Build the U.S. Economy
Just one item today, in preparation for Labor Day–a nice post from Mark Engler’s blog over at Dissent: Labor Day: Immigrants Build the U.S. Economy Mark Engler – September 3, 2010 12:00 pm Undocumented immigrants streaming into this country from south of the border drive down wages and steal jobs that could otherwise go to ...Read more.
New Issue, Lump of Labor, etc.
(1) 2010 Annual Labor Issue: This year’s annual labor issue has printed and will ship out today or tomorrow (so subscribers may actually get it just after Labor Day–first time in years!). Yesterday I posted the table of contents (note the fabulous cover, designed by our intern Lauren Price, with Chinese translation help from our ...Read more.
