Angry Bear

• Comment woes.

  Number of comments: 12
  Js-kit has some comments embedded in the post, at the bottom of each post after clicking on the title of the post you want to read. There is a disconnect with the blue comment link at the top of the post (blogger comment format). Very inconvenient. Sorry. [...]
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  Posted: November 21, 2009, 12:17pm EST
  by Rdan

• Open thread Nov. 21, 2009 (no GW)

  Number of comments: 13
  [...]
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  Posted: November 21, 2009, 6:24am EST
  by Rdan

• The Phantom Menace

  Number of comments: 1
  Robert Waldmann
  
  The one by Paul Krugman is a must read.
  
  what I hear is that officials don’t trust the demand for long-term government debt, because they see it as driven by a “carry trade”: financial players borrowing cheap money short-term, and using it to buy long-term [...]
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  Posted: November 21, 2009, 1:27am EST
  by Robert

• Quantitative Easing

  Number of comments: 6
  Robert Waldmann
  
  Can the Fed do any more to stimulate the economy ? The question is back. The answer is only by making credible promises about the fairly distant future. My view is that this means no. I review the issue after the jump.
  
  
  
  
  
  [...]
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  Posted: November 21, 2009, 12:25am EST
  by Robert

• I Blame This on the NHL

  Number of comments: 5
  With all the talk of "Detroit," you would think that Michigan would have lost the most employees, as a percentage of same, on the year. After all, the scariest graph of the U.S. MSAs isn't scary for nothing.
  
  But the Regional and State Employment data is out for' [...]
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  Posted: November 20, 2009, 8:11pm EST
  by Ken Houghton

• Open thread Nov. 20, 2009 (with GW)

  Number of comments: 72
  Update:
  Menzie Chin weighs in:
  
  http://www.econbrowser.com/archives/2009/11/the_global_surf.html [...]
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  Posted: November 20, 2009, 6:24pm EST
  by Rdan

• Teaching that Contracts Should Be Broken is Rewarding

  Number of comments: 2
  Congratulations to Andrew Samwick of Capital Gains and Games for being named Professor of the Year in New Hampshire. [...]
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  Posted: November 20, 2009, 5:27pm EST
  by Ken Houghton

• Agribusiness, Food, Vegetarianism----and Taxes

  Number of comments: 21
  [cross-posted on ataxingmatter--see posting there for additional comments]
  
  
  As some of you may know, I am one of the many people who eat a vegetarian diet. I don't eat cows, pigs, fish, whales, sharks, chicken, turkey, sheep, wild game, tame game... As I sometimes say when people' [...]
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  Posted: November 19, 2009, 5:25pm EST
  by Linda Beale

• Heath Care Reform-- Looking at the Glass Half-Full

  Number of comments: 12
  Rdan
  (Run 75441...h/t)
  
  Maggie Mahar writes an essay that is now cross posted at Angry Bear with the author's permission:
  
  Health Beat, a Project of the Century Foundation;
  November 4, 2009 Heath Care Reform-- Looking at the Glass Half-Full
  
  What Has Been Accomplished; What [...]
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  Posted: November 19, 2009, 5:16pm EST
  by Rdan

• Why is this so difficult to understand?

  Number of comments: 5
  Suppose I make my monthly budget, and assume I'm going to spend $600 for food.
  
  At the end of the month, I discover that I only spent $520.
  
  I expected to take $80 out of savings that I now do not have to. My bank account is now' [...]
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  Posted: November 19, 2009, 4:00pm EST
  by Ken Houghton

• Top down or bottom up models....useful thoughts

  Number of comments: 3
  Rdan
  
  Hat tip to Economist's View for the post from Top-down versus bottom-up macroeconomics, by Paul De Grauwe, Commentary, Vox EU for starting an interesting conversation on macro that I think is very relevant to the public story we tell ourselves about how our economy works. One [...]
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  Posted: November 19, 2009, 11:52am EST
  by Rdan

• Open Thread on Senate Health Care Bill

  Number of comments: 13
  by Bruce Webb
  I am still working out the new formatting and rather than hog all the page space here I'll just put up some links to the bill, the CBO Score, plus some extended discussion with extracted Tables at my site.
  Senate Merged Health Care Bill (2.5MB PDF)[...]
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  Posted: November 19, 2009, 10:34am EST
  by Bruce Webb

• Today is International Toilet Day

  Number of comments: 1
  And, if I were a better person, you would be reading my interview with David Kurla, CEO of IkoToilet/Ecotact in this space.
  
  But I'm not, so go to his website, especially the links for school, urban, and slum toilet provisions, and then see this' [...]
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  Posted: November 19, 2009, 9:48am EST
  by Ken Houghton

• Template woes

  Number of comments: 20
  My apologies for the inconvenience of changing the template. Even feed links were changed about in the transfer. Since the posts are intact, my first priority is fixing comments with js kit (and blogger comments for new).
  
  Dan [...]
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  Posted: November 18, 2009, 9:30am EST
  by Rdan

• Mid week open thread Nov. 18, 2009

  Number of comments: 30
  [...]
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  Posted: November 18, 2009, 8:32am EST
  by Rdan

• The Mythology of the Future Job Market

  Number of comments: 34
  Rdan
  
  Martin Ford continues his thoughts on:
  
  The Mythology of the Future Job Market
  
  Angry Bear recently picked up an article by Michael Lind at Salon on the jobs of tomorrow. The story notes that advancing job automation technology is going to be the primary force [...]
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  Posted: November 18, 2009, 5:07am EST
  by Rdan

• Industrial Production

  Number of comments: 2
  
  By Spencer
  
  Industrial production only increased 0.1% in October, from a previosly estimated 98.5 to 98.6.
  But I suspect this number was biased downward and will be revised higher.
  
  As the chart shows, this changes the impression the previous reports had given that this was a normal [...]
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  Posted: November 17, 2009, 3:03pm EST
  by spencer

• Part of the Problem Becomes Part of the Solution

  Number of comments: 0
  Moody's had always assumed banks and their securities were "Too Big to Fail." Not any more:
  Moody’s Investors Service will no longer assume that holders of the securities will benefit from government support to shore up troubled lenders, after the global financial crisis proved this wasn’t the case, Moody’s [...]
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  Posted: November 17, 2009, 2:34pm EST
  by Ken Houghton

• ER: It is the law, and often a slogan "Everyone can get care"

  Number of comments: 1
  Rdan
  
  Not only is ER care enormously expensive for 'more routine' health concerns than a clinic, but perhaps are not equal for insure/uninsured even for traffic accidents, not withstanding our best wishes.
  
  Sphere notes a report from the Archives of Surgery:
  
  It's federal law: All' [...]
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  Posted: November 17, 2009, 10:34am EST
  by Rdan

• More on the CMS Report

  Number of comments: 1
  Robert Waldmann+
  
  I paraphrase Kevin Drum
  
  My post last night about the CMS report on healthcare reform ... [was not] a model of clarity. For more, see Ezra Klein here and Jon Gruber here. Combined with ... [Drum's original] post and [...]
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  Posted: November 16, 2009, 9:57pm EST
  by Robert

• Health Affairs States the Obvious, So We Don't Have To

  Number of comments: 0
  Bob Somerby has been on a rant at The Daily Howler that "liberals" do not understand the Stupak Amendment.
  
  Unfortunately, claims he makes about Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann and their guests do not apply to Laurie Rubner. At the Health Affairs blog, Ms. Rubner is direct [...]
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  Posted: November 16, 2009, 8:47pm EST
  by Ken Houghton

• Anerica's Finest News Source Explains Glenn Beck Viewers

  Number of comments: 1
  Passionate defenders, gather ye round:
  "Right there in the preamble, the authors make their priorities clear: 'one nation under God,'" said Mortensen, attributing to the Constitution a line from the Pledge of Allegiance, which itself did not include any reference to a deity until 1954. "Well, there's a reason" [...]
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  Posted: November 16, 2009, 4:34pm EST
  by Ken Houghton

• Changing the look...heads up!

  Number of comments: 0
  Rdan
  
  I will be switching the template this week. The key is function this week...Let me know if everything works from comments to links. Next week come refinements. [...]
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  Posted: November 16, 2009, 12:55pm EST
  by Rdan

• The weather was beautiful on the day I was almost murdered.

  Number of comments: 2
  by cactus
  
  The weather was beautiful on the day I was almost murdered. Since it happened (or almost happened) in Brazil, it might not seem surprising that the weather was nice, but this was São Paulo where the only certainty is pollution. Beautiful days in São Paulo are worth [...]
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  Posted: November 16, 2009, 8:20am EST
  by Rdan

• Health Care Reform and Caregivers Refusing Medicare Patients

  Number of comments: 0
  Robert goes out on a limb and guesses that Lori Montgomery fell for (or is pushing) Republican spin in this article in the Washington Post
  Report: Bill would reduce senior care
  Medicare cuts approved by House may affect access to providers
  
  
  
  A plan to slash more [...]
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  Posted: November 15, 2009, 5:58pm EST
  by Robert

• What Hath Larry Summers Wrought?

  Number of comments: 0
  No place to pahk the cah. [...]
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  Posted: November 15, 2009, 1:05pm EST
  by Ken Houghton

• unemployment

  Number of comments: 0
  Rdan
  
  After having received e-mails regarding Mark Thoma's post on types of unemployment about who was included and excluded from the per centages, I thought a note on the relevance of the employment to population ratio to be worth repeating from comments on that post.
  
  Lifted from comments [...]
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  Posted: November 15, 2009, 9:46am EST
  by Rdan

• The Best Health Care System in the World

  Number of comments: 0
  For the record, both my daughters were vaccinated today, under government supervision at no cost to us, in a procedure that took less than 10 minutes—including getting a five-year-old to take her coat off and, post shot, put it on again.
  
  Via Felix Salmon's Twitter feed, without further' [...]
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  Posted: November 14, 2009, 5:44pm EST
  by Ken Houghton

• The jobs of tomorrow...?

  Number of comments: 0
  Rdan
  
  For the sake of argument, jobs in our future over the next few years or so appear to be in the health care industry and education. Jobs needing less education than a BA are among the fastest growing.
  Where are tomorrow's jobs going to come from?' [...]
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  Posted: November 14, 2009, 10:52am EST
  by Rdan

• Open thread No. 14, 2009 (with GW)

  Number of comments: 0
  [...]
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  Posted: November 14, 2009, 7:04am EST
  by Rdan

• Employment Policy

  Number of comments: 0
  Robert Waldmann
  
  Larry Summers, who is very very good at provoking debate, said
  “It may be desirable to have a given amount of work shared among more people. But that’s not as desirable as expanding the total amount of work.”
  
  Paul Krugman responds here
  [...]
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  Posted: November 13, 2009, 9:22pm EST
  by Robert

• Open thread No. 13, 2009 (with GW)

  Number of comments: 0
  [...]
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  Posted: November 13, 2009, 5:00pm EST
  by Rdan

• ‘New Normal’ For Unemployment?

  Number of comments: 0
  
  
  
  CBS Moneywatch now features Mark Thoma about 10 posts a month.
  
  Apropos Angry Bear exploration of "structural unemployment", Mark writes on the topic of unemployment:
  
  The types of unemployment
  
  Economists define three types of unemployment: frictional, structural, and cyclical. Frictional unemployment is defined [...]
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  Posted: November 13, 2009, 5:48am EST
  by Rdan

• I Be Officially Right of Center Now?

  Number of comments: 0
  As I am arguing on the same side as Henry Kaufman, and against the kind-hearted Mark Thoma, does the phrase "left-of-center" at the top of this blog have as much Memory Meaning as the Suzanne Vega song from Pretty in Pink?
  
  Kaufman:
  During the Greenspan years [...]
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  Posted: November 12, 2009, 8:01pm EST
  by Ken Houghton

• HR3962 as Passed: the importance of close reading

  Number of comments: 0
  by Bruce Webb
  
  H.R.3962:
  Affordable Health Care for America Act (Engrossed as Agreed to or Passed by House).
  
  Back in July I singled out what I thought was the single most important provision of the House Tri-Committee Bill in a post called Sec 116: Golden Bullet [...]
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  Posted: November 12, 2009, 11:48am EST
  by Bruce Webb

• More on the Estate Tax

  Number of comments: 0
  by Linda Beale
  (cross posted with ataxingmatter)
  
  Tax Prof and its commenters
  
  More on the Estate Tax--the Heritage Foundation speaks gobbledygook
  hat tip to Tax Prof and its commenters
  
  The Heritage Foundation, I'm afraid I've concluded, is not a "think tank" at all--it's a' [...]
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  Posted: November 12, 2009, 5:00am EST
  by Rdan

• STILL the most important sentence in the House HC Bill

  Number of comments: 0
  by Bruce Webb
  
  Much of the criticism about the House Health Care Bill coming from the left revolves around the 'fact' that it has no meaningful premium and so profit controls. Moreover most of those same people are promoting HR676 as an alternative. Frankly those people simply haven't read' [...]
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  Posted: November 11, 2009, 3:08pm EST
  by Bruce Webb

• Simple Answers to Simple Questions

  Number of comments: 0
  by Tom Bozzo
  
  Yves Smith:
  [D]o you think any CEO would dare pull the crap Benmosche has if, say, Warren Buffe[tt] held an 80% stake?No. [...]
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  Posted: November 11, 2009, 7:32am EST
  by Tom Bozzo

• Seasonal Posting: NYTFail, Part 2

  Number of comments: 0
  First, David Leonhardt argued that this recession was good for workers.
  
  Now, Floyd Norris apparently has decided to mix and match data. (I wonder if the fact many NYT employees who are looking at their 45-day severance offers is having an effect on its economic coverage.)
  [...]
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  Posted: November 10, 2009, 8:25pm EST
  by Ken Houghton

• 11 Nov 1775

  Number of comments: 0
  Good night Chesty, wherever you are. [...]
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  Posted: November 10, 2009, 5:26pm EST
  by spencer

• Greenspan Commission Staff Alumni on Bi-Partisan Commissions

  Number of comments: 0
  by Bruce Webb
  I get e-mail
  Everyone,
  
  Over the weekend, eight of us who worked on the Greenspan commission drafted a joint written statement (attached and pasted below.)
  We have just submitted it to the Budget Committee. We are hoping it gets as wide a distribution as [...]
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  Posted: November 10, 2009, 12:19pm EST
  by Bruce Webb

• Evaluating Cash for Clunkers: The Case of the Missing Denominator

  Number of comments: 0
  by Tom Bozzo
  
  An AP story (via Felix Salmon) based on an analysis of "Cash for Clunkers" transactions is circulating with the non-news that a number of the transactions involved trades of gas-guzzling trucks for only modestely less gas-guzzling trucks. Here's the lede:
  The most common deals under' [...]
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  Posted: November 10, 2009, 7:19am EST
  by Tom Bozzo

• More on the Looming Structural Unemployment Crisis

  Number of comments: 0
  Rdan
  
  Martin Ford continues his theme in the following post, on comparative advantage:
  
  More on the Looming Structural Unemployment Crisis, and on Comparative Advantage
  
  In my previous post, I suggested that job automation technology might someday advance to the point where most routine or repetitive jobs [...]
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  Posted: November 10, 2009, 7:18am EST
  by Rdan

• Pigou Club

  Number of comments: 0
  Robert Waldmann
  
  is joining The Pigou Club and hopes for at least some discussion in comments.
  
  That is all. [...]
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  Posted: November 09, 2009, 5:29pm EST
  by Robert

• The Changing Face of Health Care Fraud

  Number of comments: 0
  Tom aka Rusty Rustbelt
  
  The Changing Face of Health Care Fraud
  
  Every President since Gerald Ford has campaigned against Medicare and Medicaid “waste, fraud and abuse.” Ditto many people campaigning for Congress.
  
  The primary fraud prevention systems are aimed at providers, with the Office of Inspector General [...]
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  Posted: November 09, 2009, 1:58pm EST
  by Rdan

• Airlines, A La Carte Pricing, Deregulation and Executive Pay - A Hodge Podge

  Number of comments: 0
  by cactus
  
  Recently the ex-GF and I were traveling, and we ended up flying on United. I haven’t flown on United in recent years, as it hasn’t been a major carrier in a number of the places I’ve lived recently. Now maybe things have changed since the previous time [...]
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  Posted: November 09, 2009, 5:00am EST
  by Rdan

• One of These Things is Not Like the Others

  Number of comments: 0
  I try to like the NYTimes Economics Reporting. I really do. Heck, any place that publishes Uwe Reinhardt can't be all bad.
  
  But David Leonhardt, as he does often enough that I hesitate to read his work, again goes beyond the pale today, and clearly does so' [...]
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  Posted: November 08, 2009, 4:55pm EST
  by Ken Houghton

• Musical Interlude

  Number of comments: 0
  Among the people who have been updating The Theory of Finance for the ObamaNation is Gregg Sommerville, whose job depends to some significant extent on people not believing the following riff:
  

  
  
  

  
  More music below the fold.
  
  
  The Bailout Rap
  

  
  
  

  
  and the Subprime [...]

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  Posted: November 07, 2009, 10:37pm EST
  by Ken Houghton

• A scaled model of debt driven stimulus

  Number of comments: 0
  by divorced one like Bush
  
  Well, here is what I'm doing to support the US of A's economy. It's a lesson in the real model of economics. It is a scaled version of the concept of stimulus. I even did it by using financing just to make the model' [...]
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  Posted: November 07, 2009, 9:45pm EST
  by Divorced one like Bush

• Pre-view new template

  Number of comments: 0
  Rdan
  
  Quick look at the new template, unfinished form. Any wishes? [...]
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  Posted: November 07, 2009, 2:53pm EST
  by Rdan

• Open thread Nov.7, 2009 (no GW)

  Number of comments: 0
  [...]
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  Posted: November 07, 2009, 8:08am EST
  by Rdan

• Political economy of lobbying

  Number of comments: 0
  Rdan
  
  David Zetland at Aguanomics had some fun with a lecture and thought exercise.
  
  02 November 2009
  The Political Economy of Lobbying
  
  Last week, I taught my students about different auction techniques. After I auctioned four books under different rules, I auctioned $1.00 for $3.75.
  [...]
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  Posted: November 07, 2009, 5:47am EST
  by Rdan

• Storing Energy Bleg

  Number of comments: 0
  Robert Waldmann
  
  I am eager to learn from this blog again. A problem with solar and wind generation of electricity is the sun isn't always shining and the wind isn't always blowing and it is costly to store energy. I don't see why energy can't be stored using hydroelectric [...]
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  Posted: November 06, 2009, 7:56pm EST
  by Robert

• Open thread Nov. 6, 2009 (with GW)

  Number of comments: 0
  [...]
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  Posted: November 06, 2009, 5:08pm EST
  by Rdan

• Opting Out and Individual Affordability Credits: a reply to DOLB

  Number of comments: 0
  by Bruce Webb
  
  Divorced One and I are having what I think is a useful exchange that started with my post on Eligibility and Enrollment which he followed up with More on the Public Option. If you haven't read that please do as this piece won't make much [...]
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  Posted: November 06, 2009, 11:57am EST
  by Bruce Webb

• How to Explain Moral Hazard

  Number of comments: 0
  It took me many years to understand the phrase "moral hazard." It's a fundamental tenet of economics, usually used to explain that, since consumers are untrustworthy, businesses need to charge them more.*
  
  It was finally cleared up for me in the midst of a presentation last year about how' [...]
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  Posted: November 06, 2009, 11:46am EST
  by Ken Houghton

• Employment Report

  Number of comments: 0
  By Spencer,
  
  The unemployment rate jumped to 10.2%. Except for the peak rate of 10.8% after the 1982 recession this is the highest in the post WW II era.
  
  
  
  The overall tenor of the report was very similar to the past three [...]
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  Posted: November 06, 2009, 9:58am EST
  by spencer

• One man's past experience with technological change and employment

  Number of comments: 0
  lifted from comments by run 75441
  
  These are comments that I found interesting describing change to manufacturing processes over tha last few decades. It made for a foil next to Martin ford's projections and our understanding of past events. It is not a post but I learned a few' [...]
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  Posted: November 06, 2009, 9:00am EST
  by Rdan

• Could Advancing Job Automation Technology Cause Structural Unemployment?

  Number of comments: 0
  Rdan
  
  Martin Ford offers one man's look into the future of a world in the USA of the results of continued increasing productivity, increasing income inequality, declining wage compensation, and consumption supported by debt.
  
  Robert touched on the issue recently, and Sandwichman has developed a range of [...]
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  Posted: November 06, 2009, 5:28am EST
  by Rdan

• More on the Public Option in the current house bill HR 3962

  Number of comments: 0
  by Divorced one like Bush
  
  Bruce Webb put up a post titled "Health Care Exchange: Eligibility vs. Enrollment". I have gained some clarification on the subject and have shared it with Bruce. I have asked him to comment also.
  
  There is a concern as to whether access [...]
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  Posted: November 05, 2009, 6:00pm EST
  by Divorced one like Bush

• Productivity Growth

  Number of comments: 0
  By Spencer,
  
  Third quarter nonfarm productivity rose at a 9.5% annual rate as output rose 4.0% and hours worked fell at a 5.0% rate. Historically, productivity has been a very good leading indicator of real GDP growth lagged two quarters.
  
  Productivity is also highly [...]
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  Posted: November 05, 2009, 10:24am EST
  by spencer

• Finacial blogger impressions

  Number of comments: 0
  Rdan
  
  Steve Waldman at Interfluidity has written an impression of The financial blogger meeting with senior Treasury officials of last Monday. He also provides links to other main posts by those who attended. It is worth a visit. [...]
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  Posted: November 05, 2009, 10:06am EST
  by Rdan

• CBO Scores Boehner Amendment to HR3962

  Number of comments: 0
  by Bruce Webb
  
  Last evening the CBO Director Blog announced the release of a score of the Boehner amendment: A Preliminary Analysis of a Substitute Amendment to H.R. 3962, the Affordable Health Care for America Act. The results are not impressive: (as always click to enlarge)
  [...]
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  Posted: November 05, 2009, 9:56am EST
  by Bruce Webb

• Bruce Webb, Dale Coberly, Arne Larson and the National Academy of Social Insurance

  Number of comments: 0
  Rdan
  
  The National Academy of Social Insurance report on options for Social Security is public and now available in pdf form. "The purpose of this report is to help analysts and policymakers consider options to bring Social Security into long-term balance in ways that also address concerns about" [...]
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  Posted: November 05, 2009, 8:52am EST
  by Rdan

• Boehner Amendment to HR3962: Open Thread

  Number of comments: 0
  Common Sense Health Care Reform and Affordability Act
  
  Haven't begun to read it. And somehow it is in a format that doesn't allow cutting and pasting the text. So I am just throwing this out to the floor for open discussion in comments. [...]
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  Posted: November 04, 2009, 1:45pm EST
  by Bruce Webb

• Mid week open thread Nov. 4, 2009

  Number of comments: 0
  [...]
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  Posted: November 04, 2009, 10:05am EST
  by Rdan

• Going to Washington as a financial blogger

  Number of comments: 0
  Rdan
  
  Yves Smith describes a meeting she attended at Treasury in D.C. Read at her place or the rest under the fold.
  
  The Treasury invited a small group of bloggers for a “discussion” with senior officials on Monday. Initially, the meeting was to be background, which [...]
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  Posted: November 03, 2009, 3:17pm EST
  by Rdan

• Home Buyer Tax Credit Extension

  Number of comments: 0
  by Linda Beale
  
  Part of the reason for our ongoing Great Recession is that we have had so many measures in the tax code to favor home ownership that (i) banks started to think of mortgage securitization business as money growing on trees and (ii) homeowners started to think [...]
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  Posted: November 03, 2009, 10:25am EST
  by Linda Beale

• The Rule of Capture and Legalized Theft

  Number of comments: 0
  by cactus
  
  The Rule of Capture and Legalized Theft
  
  
  The rule of capture states that a resource belongs to the entity that, well, captured it, regardless of where that resource originated. In the US, it tends to apply to oil and natural gas development.
  
  What [...]
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  Posted: November 03, 2009, 7:56am EST
  by Rdan

• Government Site to Check

  Number of comments: 0
  Mish sends us to "Track the Money," recovery.gov's breakdown of where funds have been sent and spent.
  
  He's not happy, but I suspect he's suffering the Jared Bernstein Problem: only looking at one side of the equation.
  
  But—and this is the key "but"—the reason it is [...]
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  Posted: November 03, 2009, 6:04am EST
  by Ken Houghton

• A Difference in National Priorities

  Number of comments: 0
  AIG is bankrupt, but Manchester United still wears their logo.
  
  However, when Dutch bank DSB Bank NV filed bankruptcy, Stephen Colbert had to step in to sponsor U.S. Speedskating?
  
  Maybe the Dutch understand Sports Economics and the Americans don't?*
  
  
  *J.C. Bradbury, [...]
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  Posted: November 02, 2009, 11:46pm EST
  by Ken Houghton

• Ultra Amateurish Thoughts on “Optimal Fiscal Policy in a Liquidity Trap (Ultra-Wonkish)”

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  Paul Krugman argued that optimal fiscal policy in a liquidity trap targets unemployment equal to the non accelerating inflation rate of unemployment (NAIRU). He uses a model with Ricardian equivalence. This means that the public debt does not affect consumption.
  
  When he wrote his post, I said [...]
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  Posted: November 02, 2009, 10:42pm EST
  by Robert

• Vague Thoughts on The Theory of the Firm, the Business Cycle and Kurt Vonnegut

  Number of comments: 0
  Robert Waldmann
  
  Don't say you weren't warned. I am trying to understand the effects of the switch from mechanically controlled machine tools to electronically controlled machine tools and then to digitally controlled machine tools. I don't really know much about machine tools, but, then again, I don't know much [...]
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  Posted: November 02, 2009, 10:04am EST
  by Robert

• HR676: Serious policy? or Simple political posturing?

  Number of comments: 0
  by Bruce Webb
  
  A lot of progressives insist that there is a simple golden-bullet solution to the health care crisis. All we need to do is substitute the 30 page HR676 Single Payer/Medicare For All bill for the 1990 page HR3962. Which led me to ask "How can you" [...]
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  Posted: November 02, 2009, 9:37am EST
  by Bruce Webb

• This is What a Giant Vampire Squid Looks Like

  Number of comments: 0
  Via Greg Mitchell's Twitter feed, lying isn't just for the IB branch any more:
  Goldman declined for three years to confirm their suspicions that it had bought their mortgages from a subprime lender, even after they wrote to Goldman's then-Chief Executive Henry Paulson — later U.S. Treasury secretary' [...]
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  Posted: November 02, 2009, 9:19am EST
  by Ken Houghton

• Are exporters in Asia real-ly losing their competitive edges?

  Number of comments: 0
  by Rebecca
  
  Central banks across Asia are concerned and actively engaged in some kind of currency manipulation - direct intervention, quasi-capital controls, and/or public speech (I will refer to this later, but RGE published a great article to the fact) - as investors flock to global capital markets [...]
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  Posted: November 01, 2009, 7:51pm EST
  by Rebecca Wilder

• Happy Haloween

  Number of comments: 0
  Rdan
  
  
  
  [...]
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  Posted: October 31, 2009, 11:26am EDT
  by Rdan

• Health Care Exchange: Eligibility vs. Enrollment

  Number of comments: 0
  by Bruce Webb
  
  In the near four months since it passed out of Committee there has been little discussion of the Senate HELP Bill and the reason is clear, Max Baucus made it clear that Senate Finance would write a bill from the ground up. What this has meant [...]
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  Posted: October 31, 2009, 9:59am EDT
  by Bruce Webb

• Open thread Oct. 31, 2009 (with GW)

  Number of comments: 0
  [...]
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  Posted: October 31, 2009, 5:25am EDT
  by Rdan

• Open thread Oct. 30, 2009 (no GW)

  Number of comments: 0
  [...]
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  Posted: October 30, 2009, 7:25pm EDT
  by Rdan

• That 3.5% rise in GDP

  Number of comments: 0
  UPDATED
  
  Divorced one like Bush wants to know how accurate the polling was that came up with a consensous that the GDP rose 3.5% in the third quarter. I did my own poll last night at band practice and 100% of the self employed band members (only one for [...]
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  Posted: October 30, 2009, 12:09pm EDT
  by Divorced one like Bush

• HR3962: the new House Bill and its Scoring

  Number of comments: 0
  by Bruce Webb
  
  
  
  
  Well I have been venturing around the blogosphere and it is grievously clear that most people did not take my advice and Read the Bill!. Well it is not too late: http://docs.house.gov/rules/health/111_ahcaa.pdf (3.3 MB) Moreover CBO [...]
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  Posted: October 30, 2009, 11:34am EDT
  by Bruce Webb

• Dr. Black asks, AngryBear Answers

  Number of comments: 0
  The question:
  How much was credit being funneled away from all other sectors in the economy?
  The answer: Very little if any. Neither the general consumer lending:
  

  
  
  

  
  nor the specific Real Estate lending:
  

  
  
  

  appears to run in a [...]

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  Posted: October 29, 2009, 12:52pm EDT
  by Ken Houghton

• 1204 and forever...more unitary executive?

  Number of comments: 0
  Rdan
  
  Hat tip Naked Capitalism regarding the Financial Stabilility Improvement Act as described by Washington's Blog concerning banks/investment companies 'too big to fail' actions by the US and EU countries.
  October 29, 2009 begins testimony on more emergency powers by the executive branch.
  
  The [...]
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  Posted: October 29, 2009, 12:07pm EDT
  by Rdan

• Eighty Years Ago Today

  Number of comments: 0
  
  
  (Data via Yahoo! Finance) [...]
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  Posted: October 29, 2009, 11:55am EDT
  by Ken Houghton

• Economic time/space phenomenon: Health care/Unemployment

  Number of comments: 0
  by divorced one like Bush
  
  While your reading this, think about the physics concept of two things occupying the same time and space. Think about the similar idea that light is both a wave and a particle. Think about the message we have been told that many very bright [...]
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  Posted: October 29, 2009, 11:52am EDT
  by Divorced one like Bush

• Read the Bill!

  Number of comments: 0
  http://docs.house.gov/rules/health/111_ahcaa.pdf (3.3 MB)
  
  The House Bill is out. It's different, at a minimum in its numbering, 'Sec 113' and 'Sec 116' don't mean what they did yesterday. I'm going to take some time to read through the naughty bits, maybe some of you could too. Discussion/updates later.
  
  Update' [...]
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  Posted: October 29, 2009, 11:20am EDT
  by Bruce Webb

• New look for Angry Bear

  Number of comments: 0
  Rdan
  
  The new template is done for the most part and will be replacing the current template in November, about mid-month. It is faster and cleaner and should serve us well. There will be additional services included. Anyone who wants to take a look at the proto-type can in [...]
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  Posted: October 29, 2009, 10:19am EDT
  by Rdan

• Public Option Hardest Ball

  Number of comments: 0
  Robert Waldmann
  
  The proposal made here in "Public Option Harder Ball" received enthusiastic support when it was coincidentally semi proposed as opt-in by Sen Carper (D-Bankruptcy Reform) and modified to to opt-out by Senator Schumer (D-tough guy). As presented here on September 4 it was clearly unconstitutional and [...]
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  Posted: October 28, 2009, 11:45am EDT
  by Robert

• LABOR'S SHARE

  Number of comments: 0
  =
  By Spencer,
  
  The issue of a jobless recovery is getting a lot of attention recently.
  
  I've found the best way to look at the issue is to compare the change in real growth and productivity over the long run. There have been three periods of different' [...]
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  Posted: October 27, 2009, 4:50pm EDT
  by spencer

• Lieberman Says He Will Support a Filibuster

  Number of comments: 0
  Robert Waldmann
  
  Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) said Tuesday that he’d back a GOP filibuster of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s health care reform bill.
  
  
  Lieberman, who caucuses with Democrats and is positioning himself as a fiscal hawk on the issue, said he opposes any health care [...]
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  Posted: October 27, 2009, 3:04pm EDT
  by Robert

• A Real Public Option

  Number of comments: 0
  One of the most notable things about ski trips to the States from Canada was that they offered "U.S. medical insurance"—a buy-in that cost around the same as a lift ticket if you wanted to ski Stowe instead of Tremblant.
  
  One of the scariest moments in Sicko is when [...]
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  Posted: October 27, 2009, 10:57am EDT
  by Ken Houghton

• Greenberg returns

  Number of comments: 0
  rdan
  
  Greenberg is back using the same business strategies he used at AIG.
  
  (hat tip Ruthie Ackerman, assoc. ed. New Deal 2.0) To point to Marshall Auerback an investment strategist who writes at New Deal 2.0 "Happy Halloween: Pay Curbs are a Trick on the Taxpayer," [...]
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  Posted: October 27, 2009, 9:39am EDT
  by Rdan

• Report from Chicago

  Number of comments: 0
  guest post by run 75441
  
  While the American Banking Association held their "Roaring Twenties" party to kick off their annual meeting, people from 20 different states, as far away as California, came together to kick off "Showdown Chicago" protesting the loss of jobs and the harsh and speculative practices [...]
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  Posted: October 27, 2009, 8:46am EDT
  by Rdan

• Opt Out Going to the Senate Floor

  Number of comments: 0
  Robert Waldmann
  
  Harry Reid is sending a health care reform bill with a public option and an opt out clause to the floor of the Senate. . Josh Marshall explains why it is good policy and notes "the importance that an outside-the-box idea can have in significantly changing" [...]
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  Posted: October 26, 2009, 5:06pm EDT
  by Robert

• Public Option Opt Out and the Commerce Clause

  Number of comments: 0
  by Bruce Webb
  
  Well it looks like Harry Reid is going to introduce a bill that includes a Public Option with a state opt-out provision. Which I guess means the Tenthers won't have to secede from the Union after all. But it raises some questions.
  
  Let's say I' [...]
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  Posted: October 26, 2009, 11:17am EDT
  by Bruce Webb

• Marginal benefits

  Number of comments: 0
  by cactus
  
  How much are all those folks at the various TARP corporate welfare recipients worth? We're being deluged with stories about how many executives at such institutions are leaving because the big bad gubmint is limiting their pay, and how that's going to hurt us in the long' [...]
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  Posted: October 26, 2009, 8:24am EDT
  by Rdan

• Big week for currency intervention measures

  Number of comments: 0
  by Rebecca
  
  Policymakers across Latin America are announcing measures to stem currency appreciation against the $US. Since March 2009, the $US depreciated 25% against the Colombian peso, 28% against the Brazilian real, 14% against the Mexican peso, 12% against the Peruvian nuevo sol, and 11% against the Chilean peso.
  [...]
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  Posted: October 25, 2009, 12:33pm EDT
  by Rebecca Wilder

• The Newest “Hot Thing”

  Number of comments: 0
  Tom aka Rusty Rustbelt
  
  The Newest “Hot Thing”
  
  As promised, after an eight day swing of health care conferences (speaking and listening) I am back in action. So what is the new hot thing among providers?
  
  Integrated Delivery Systems (IDS)
  
  This is hot, but not really [...]
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  Posted: October 25, 2009, 5:17am EDT
  by Rdan

• What it means to be a Conservative Economist Today

  Number of comments: 0
  Bruce Bartlett posts a note that could have come from me (but, for reasons that will become obvious, did not:
  During the 8 Reagan years, when marginal [tax] rates were sharply cut (but deficits were substantial), equities on the NYSE and the S & P 500 about doubled.
  
  [...]
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  Posted: October 25, 2009, 12:07am EDT
  by Ken Houghton