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Economists Say the Darndest Things

I am reviewing this Institute for Policy Integrity survey [.pdf] of economists on climate change because we at IER are preparing a response. (They are all over the media saying, “Economists and scientists both have consensus: the government needs to act now.”) One of the survey questions asked the economists their estimate of the “social […]

Paul Krugman Solves My Family’s Financial Crunch

I explain here. An excerpt: …I am very surprised to confess that Krugman has convinced me of the virtues of currency debasement. As I was reading his blog post on the tragic fate of Ecuador, I applied Krugman’s lessons to my personal life, and suddenly everything became clear. In a flash, all of my household’s […]

George W. Bush Warns Ivanka Trump of the Dangers of Nepotism

OK I made that up to make sure you were paying attention. The real story is almost as good (HT2 Tony Garcia): Bush warns of threats to freedom, economic growth Former President George W. Bush, outlining plans for a new public policy institute, on Thursday said America must fight the temptation to allow the federal […]

How the Fed’s Original Rules Were Relaxed to Allow It to Pay for World War I

This is a really good article by John Paul Koning. At first I thought it was just going to be a standard “the government uses inflation to pay for wars because the public wouldn’t stand for the taxes and borrowing.” But it’s really specific. Koning goes over the safety mechanisms that were originally in place […]

Right-Wingers: "Gov’t Can’t Run the DMV or Health Care, But It Will Keep Us Safe From Terrorists"

Much to my chagrin, I can remember when I was in junior high (or thereabouts) and had a heated argument with my aunt about drug legalization. She was trying to bring up compassion for the drug users etc., and I said, “What about compassion for the crack babies?!” (I was very good with indignant non […]

Banks’ Excess Reserves (Almost) Literally Off the Charts

EPJ tipped me off to the fact that the excess reserves have (had?) surpassed the $1 trillion mark. In this Fed graph, it looks literally off the charts, but when you click to see the data [.txt], it lists the last data point as a measly $994.7 billion. Chump change. For those who like statistics, […]

Fort Hood Aftermath

At first I thought they were overreacting (as is their wont), but I “get” why the AM right-wingers are going nuts over the media coverage. There was a long story on NPR this morning interviewing Muslims in the military and how they’re dealing with the stereotypes etc. Note that I am all for that, but […]

Democracy Is More Important Than Avoiding Paradox

I can’t stop reading Tyler! He knows so much, and his views are so similar to mine, and so when we disagree… Aaaaaaaa! I can’t stand it!! While discussing a voting procedure that one of his readers had asked about, Tyler said: The main question to get out of your head is whether or not […]