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• Should Taxes be Progressive?

  Created: Tuesday, 15 December 2009 Author: Mark Thoma

  Bruce Bartlett doesn't like taxation that redistributes income: Inequality: A Problem?, by Bruce Bartlett: Normally, when one reads a proudly left-wing magazine like The American Prospect one expects to read vocal denunciations of inequality. So there's...

• Copenhagen as Income Redistribution

  Created: Tuesday, 15 December 2009 Author: Warren Meyer

  I am slammed here at work, but I will give you a couple of nice articles on this topic.  First from IBD: The United Nations’ Copenhagen Climate Conference is going fast into meltdown. It may be because it’s not about climate anymore, but fitting a n...

• Distant but real

  Created: Tuesday, 15 December 2009 Author: Tim Price

  “Senator Joyce said the chances of a US debt default were distant but real and politicians were not doing the electorate a favour by refusing to acknowledge the risk. ...

• Bonds Trounce Stocks in 2000s – Worst Decade for Equities since 1930s

  Created: Tuesday, 15 December 2009 Author: Eric Roseman

  As 2009 shortly draws to a close, U.S. stocks will log their worst decade of performance since the 1930s. Government bonds, on the other hand, have trounced stocks this decade. But the future performance of bonds is highly suspect ahead of rising deficits...

• "Financing the Fight against Climate Change"

  Created: Tuesday, 15 December 2009 Author: Mark Thoma

  Climate talks are stalled. Developing countries want help paying for policies to reduce greenhouse emissions, but the amount they are asking for is more than developed countries are likely to agree to. Is there any way to end the impasse?: ...

• Mission Not Accomplished

  Created: Monday, 14 December 2009 Author: Warren Meyer

  Although Barack Obama has refrained, at least for now, from delivering triumphant speeches in a naval flight suit, there is nevertheless a strong tone of accomplishment emanating from the President and his deputies. Over the weekend, top White House econo...

• Health Care Cost Control

  Created: Monday, 14 December 2009 Author: Warren Meyer

  Good editorial today in the WSJ on the myth of government health care cost control: ...

• Bears Suffer Losses as Bulls Rejoice in 2009

  Created: Monday, 14 December 2009 Author: Eric Roseman

  2008 investors earned big profits shorting or betting against global stock markets. Reverse index funds gained more than 40% in the United States last year; exchange-traded-funds, or ETFs, that employ 2x leverage surged more than 80%. Shorting emerging ...

• Too Big to File Suit?

  Created: Monday, 14 December 2009 Author: Mark Thoma

  I've been somewhat encouraged by this administration's attention to anti-trust issues, but so far there's been more talk than action. I don't think this issue received enough attention in the previous administration -- if anything the Bush administration ...

• Why you shouldn't buy gold stocks

  Created: Monday, 14 December 2009 Author: Cam Hui

  My last post an embarassing question for gold bugs got a fair number of comments - which is to be expected whenever I write anything negative about gold or gold stocks. ...

• The Debt Hangover

  Created: Monday, 14 December 2009 Author: Claus Vistesen

  If Friday was the day Macro Man had to pay for a wet evening in the company of alcoholic beverages, it was my turn yesterday as I spent the day trying to recover from a night where the amount of alcohol consumed had been beyond excessive. Thus, as I wok...

• US FDI, growth, and the capital stock abroad

  Created: Monday, 14 December 2009 Author: Rebecca Wilder

  The precipitous drop in world trade is well documented (see one of my previous posts for a look at nose-diving exports in Asia); but the adverse effects on FDI is overlooked, in my view. ...

• Where's the Stimulus? Federal Spending Data Don't Show Much

  Created: Monday, 14 December 2009 Author: Dr. Bill Conerly

  Everyone knows that we have this huge fiscal stimulus.  I went looking for it.  I didn't look everywhere, though.  We've had some tax cuts and increases in transfer payments.  The raw data on these subjects reflect not only policy, but the circumstanc...

• Economist Paul Samuelson, Dead at 94

  Created: Monday, 14 December 2009 Author: Leo Kolivakis

  Michael Weinstein of the NYT reports that Paul A. Samuelson, Economist, Dies at 94:   Paul A. Samuelson, the first American Nobel laureate in economics and the foremost academic economist of the 20th century, died Sunday at his home in Belmont, Mass. H...

• Thoughts on the Statistical Recovery

  Created: Saturday, 12 December 2009 Author: John Mauldin

  We are clearly starting to get some better data points here and there. But as I pointed out this summer, it is going to be a recovery in the statistics and not in the things that count, such as income and employment. This week we look at the nascent recov...

• US Flow of Funds: wealth recovery fully underway, China?

  Created: Saturday, 12 December 2009 Author: Rebecca Wilder

  This week the Federal Reserve reported the Q3 2009 Flow of Funds accounts. The headline indicators show household net worth improving and private debt burden falling. ...

• The China Growth Story

  Created: Saturday, 12 December 2009 Author: Mike Swanson

  Fortunately, the China economy is growing nicely and that should serve to help relax more than a few other national economies around the world. In fact, it's growing at a rate that is impressive, especially given the current global economic downturn. Duri...

• Does the Caisse Need Retention Bonuses?

  Created: Saturday, 12 December 2009 Author: Leo Kolivakis

  Nicolas Van Praet of the Financial Post reports that Caisse revolving door sparks move to retention bonuses: ...

• Two Approaches to Employee Productivity

  Created: Saturday, 12 December 2009 Author: Dr. Bill Conerly

  This week I read about two very distinct approaches to employee productivity.  First, from an article in the Wall Street Journal: The office cubicle is shrinking, along with workers' sense of privacy. ...

• Rodrik: Making Room for China

  Created: Saturday, 12 December 2009 Author: Mark Thoma

  Dani Rodrik says that if China wants to pursue industrial policy, as he believes it should, its membership in the WTO leaves it little choice but to keep its currency undervalued: ...