Punk Economics: Lesson 4

And so it goes… See the previous lessons here: Lesson 1 Lesson 2 Lesson 3

Continue Reading

The $64,000 Question

John Harvey asks a darn good one, too. Why on earth, in a period of chronic unemployment, would we purposely set out to lower the spending of a major sector in the macroeconomy? Where do President Obama and Congressman Ryan think the businesses where government money was spent will make…

Continue Reading

Corporate Profits vs Corporate Taxes

Submitted without comment.

Continue Reading

End This Depression Now! – A Lecture by Paul Krugman

Paul Krugman gave a talk recently at the Economic Policy Institute about his new (and quite readable) book, End This Depression Now!  This video provides a really good introduction to the concepts presented in the book and is well worth the 45 minutes you invest in watching it.

Continue Reading

Wisconsin: Unofficial Member of the European Austerity Club

Economically, Scott Walker and the Republicans have dragged Wisconsin into a debate about the ability of economic austerity to create growth.  Much crowing happened on the right when Walker and the GOP claimed to have balanced the state budget and closed a $3.6 billion gap (even though that was a…

Continue Reading

Nobody Could Have Predicted: Scott Walker Destroys The Wisconsin Economy Edition

Who would have guessed?  Well, this guy for one. Last March, Deller, a professor of applied economics, studied the ripple effects of Gov. Scott Walker’s budget-repair bill and two-year budget proposal. Deller felt Walker’s plans to balance the state’s budget by cutting spending and public workers’ take-home pay will slow…

Continue Reading

Optimal Inheritance Tax Rates: Conservative Heads Exploding Edition

When you hear conservatives talk about inheritance taxes, they invariably refer to them as “death” taxes.  And like any tax, they want to eliminate this one too.  Never mind that labeling it a “death” tax is, of course, absurd on its face.  It’s not a tax on death, it’s a tax on inheritance….

Continue Reading

At the Heart of Fed Monetary Policy: A Fallacy!

Heterodox economist L. Randall Wray takes Ben Bernanke to task for a failure of comprehension.  The whole article, while a bit wonkish, is certainly worth a read.  Wray does an excellent job explaining, in a few paragraphs, how modern monetary systems (fiat currency based) actually function (as opposed to how the…

Continue Reading

A Shamefully Low Minimum Wage

The Communists at Bloomberg News call for a Revolution hike in the minimum wage. Here’s an unhappy observation about the minimum wage: Congress last increased the rate in stages in 2006, topping it out at $7.25 an hour in 2009, or $15,080 a year. That amount, when adjusted for inflation, is…

Continue Reading

“YOU LIE!”

I sure wish someone would say that to Paul Ryan when he says shit like this: MILWAUKEE — U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan warned in a speech Monday that the nation was headed for a debt crisis, its finances at a critical juncture. “We’re coming into what I would call a…

Continue Reading