Author Archives: stevej

Posted by Kevin Drum, this chart is from the trustee’s report.  Ezra Klein has a posting about it here. The reason that this chart is so important is that it shows that SS costs don’t continue to rise forever, they … Continue reading →

Annie Lowry looks at the effect of a divided congress in this article in Slate (see also Ezra Klein here).  Her conclusions: a sharp rise immediately after the election followed by slow growth after the reality of gridlock settles in.  … Continue reading →

This paper, from George Evans via Mark  Thoma (original here), shows why fiscal stimulus must be greater than a threshold level to be able to kick an economy out of stagnation.  Obama’s stimulus was clearly too small. Mark Thoma: “Escaping … Continue reading →

A presidency heading for a fiscal train wreck via FT.com / Comment / Opinion – A presidency heading for a fiscal train wreck. The result will soon be the worst of all worlds: neither short-term stimulus nor medium-term fiscal sustainability. … Continue reading →

‘A Well Tailored Safety Net’: Social Security and Old-Age Risk-Sharing | Angry Bear. Basically, stabilizing Social Security isn’t as hard as people want to make it seem.

Paul Krugman points out why if some people pay down their debt by spending less than their income, others must spend more than their income to prevent the world’s economy from declining.  It’s a simple accounting identity: “for the world … Continue reading →

That is all…

Bartlett points out the differences between now and 1994 when a new Republican Congress and Bill Clinton resulted in gridlock (here): …But today the situation is quite different. The economy is in the tank and the budget is clearly on … Continue reading →

The Republicans seem poised to win control of at least one house of Congress this election.  Several economists I trust (Paul Krugman, Mark Thoma, and Nouriel Roubini to name three) see this as a true economic disaster, and I can’t … Continue reading →