Well sorry to all for the two-week absence, but I'm back from being on the road and all the end-of-semester stuff the school requires. There's a myth that's pushed and carefully nurtured by corporate executives and conservatives. It's the image that "private enterprise" lives and dies by the market and that the profit motive is … Continue reading Corporate Entitlements: Music Edition
Month: May 2011
Gov. Rick Snyder Invokes the Magic Job Genie
The mantra of Republican governors (and in Congress) has been that taxes must be cut in order to create jobs. In previous posts I've dealt with the confusion about how federal level changes income taxes might or might not affect the strength of the economy. Most of the federal tax discussion focuses on individual income taxes. … Continue reading Gov. Rick Snyder Invokes the Magic Job Genie
In Michigan, Governor Snyder Is Increasing Unemployment
For years and through the early part of the Great Recession of 2007-09, Michigan was ground zero for unemployment. Unemployment rates of around 15% - worst in the nation. But once the GM and Chrysler completed their bankruptcies, it has begun to emerge. In the past 12 months Michigan has made relatively good progress on … Continue reading In Michigan, Governor Snyder Is Increasing Unemployment
Social Security Facts
From Ezra Klein via Mark Thoma of Economists View: Ezra Klein on Social Security: 1) Over the next 75 years, Social Security’s shortfall is equal to about 0.7 percent of GDP. Source (PDF). 2) For the average 65-year-old retiring in 2010, Social Security replaced about 40 percent of working-age earnings. That “replacement rate” is scheduled … Continue reading Social Security Facts
Economists For Sale
Economists widely believe themselves to be social scientists. And gosh-darn rigorous scientists at that - I mean just look at all that esoteric math! Why, why it looks just like physics! (well, 19th century physics at least). As everybody knows, real scientists observe things. They observe nature, experiments, phenomena.Economists are supposed to observe and … Continue reading Economists For Sale
The Ephemeralization of GDP Via GPS
When you get down to it, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is really a pretty lousy measure given how we try to use it. But it's about all we have so far. Timothy B. Lee offers a fantastic example using Google and GPS. A GPS is one of those "Global Positioning Systems" - those systems that … Continue reading The Ephemeralization of GDP Via GPS
On the Bin Laden Death
So the government claims to have finally, after 9 1/2 years, to have found and killed Osama bin Laden. So they found bin Laden. I don't suppose they found our right to habeas corpus, the 4th Amendment to the Constitution, the right to keep your shoes on in an airport, or any of the other … Continue reading On the Bin Laden Death
Quickie – I’m Still Here
I know posts have been sparse the last two weeks. That's not because of a lack of things to comment upon, but rather a lack of time to comment. It's end of semester and the day job (grading and stuff) takes precedence. Hope to end resume normal posting tomorrow or Friday.
EconProph 