Monthly Archives: November 2010

The Deficit Hawks

From Jeff Madrick at TripleCrisis: …The deficit hawks have also largely won in the U.S.  The announcement last week that GDP grew at an annual rate of 2 percent only brings the point home: the U.S. needs a serious fiscal … Continue reading

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And now for something completely different

An amazing video. Watch full-screen with HD on.  Pause at first to let the video buffer get far enough ahead to enable it to play smoothly. TimeScapes: Rapture from Tom Lowe @ Timescapes on Vimeo.

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Conversation with a tea-partier

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Links for future reference

World Statistics in real time. Did WWII really get us out of the Great Depression?

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Is the GOP serious about deficit reduction or tax cuts?

Here’s what will happen if Bush’s tax cuts are extended (from Ezra Klein ):

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The most important Social Security graph ever

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

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Government gridlock is not good for markets

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

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Shouting at the Deficit

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A Stimulus must be above a threshold to work.

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

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