Talking Top Salaries in Finance and the Gas Price Spike with Kudlow and Co.
Had great fun co-hosting the Larry Kudlow show last night—yes, it was fun and interesting (though way, way too much of the Republican talking point: it’s Obama’s sequester! That part was pure nonsense). Anyway, check out this segment on the pay of finance CEO’s. There you learn that as penance for his lack of oversight [...]
Today’s Papers: Gas Prices and Simpson/Bowles II
Random observations re political economy from the broadsheets: –Steve Mufson provides a useful account of what’s going on with gas prices. Sometimes gas price spikes have obvious causes—like a geo-politically driven supply disruption—and sometimes, like now, it’s a bit harder to nail down what’s driving the spike. Mufson reports that the current spike is a: [...]
SOTU: Watch Away from the Ball
When watching a basketball game, though your eye is drawn toward the player with the ball, it’s good to watch how the play’s developing away from the ball—trying to see how players without the ball are moving–looking not just where the play is, but where it will be a few passes ahead. That’s also the [...]
Frankenstorm Sandy Approaches
As goes the power, so goes the internet, and the likelihood of an outage here in the DC area is high, so if there’s radio silence from OTE for a few days, that’s why. Not to bring everything back to Keynesian economics, but the 10 year bond yield is 1.75%, the 10 year TIPs yield [...]
Battery Powered Growth
The Obama administration’s initiatives to invest in advance battery technology often get a bad rap, mostly because there’s an ideological bias against government “picking winners.” That’s an unfortunate bias on many levels. The demand for increased battery capacity is growing across the globe and the game is on for who will be poised to [...]
Wonkblog Footnotes the First Presidential Debate
Well, that was just wonk-a-delic—much more down in the policy weeds than I expected. And of course, when that happens in this context, there’s going to be a lot of confusion and many facts that require checking. Thankfully, the WaPo’s Wonkblog army did an admirable and balanced job. This one is particularly important to [...]
Something Important Is Happening In Charlotte
While everyone was listening to the predictable speeches at the DNC in Charlotte, Lori Montgomery of the WaPo cleverly snuck off to a successful Siemen’s factory where they manufacture the big gas turbines that will power new electric plants here and abroad. I suspect you’d learn a lot more at this factory about the combination [...]
Roundtable
If you’re looking for three economists, including yours truly, debating everything under the sun, look no further.
Econo Update
It’s a rainy Saturday here on the back porch so instead of yard work, how’s about a quick run through of some indicators of note re the current economy? In sum, housing isn’t hurting the way it was, and that’s an important plus. But the usual headwinds remain in place, with a bit of added [...]
Talking New New Deal with Mike Grunwald — LIVE!
I was lucky enough to sit down with the author of this important new book about the Recovery Act. I’ll be writing a lot on Grunwald’s book in coming weeks. It’s by far the most careful, balanced look at both the politics and the economics around this widely misunderstood piece of legislation. And there’s a [...]
Scattershots from the Road
Quick road trip in progress so just a few scattered impressions from the hotel room, and pre-coffee so I can’t be held accountable. Econowatch: Yesterday’s retail sales numbers were a concern because there’s a negative trend there — see figure — over the last quarter (April, May, June) which corresponds to the slower growth in [...]
Prices: You’ve Got a Friend…
“When you’re down, and troubled, and you need a helping hand…” Last Friday’s jobs report confirmed a weakening trend in employment growth and an unemployment rate stuck north of 8%. We’re still growing, and most industries outside of the public sector are adding jobs, but too slowly. Other important indicators, most notably real GDP growth, [...]
Econ Round Up: Truncated Version
I’ve been swamped all week and thus unable to sit down and plot the economic data of the moment. I might get to that later, but until then, here’s a quick, informal assessment of current conditions. –The bottom line is that we’re slogging along at trend–about 2% of GDP–and probably will be for the near [...]
The Role of Government
The President and Gov Romney gave dueling speeches in the swing state of Ohio yesterday, laying out broad economic themes, so it is incumbent on OTE to look under the hoods. Here’s what I’ve got. It is, of course, impossible for politics to be anything but deeply political right now. By that cryptic statement, I [...]
North Dakota Rejects Supply-Side Silliness…Wins First OTE “State of the Month” Award!
We at OTE may bemoan the dysfunction here inside the DC beltway, but when good things happen elsewhere, we try to be all over it. As my CBPP colleague Michael Leachman points out here, the idea that you could eliminate your property tax and make up the lost revenue through the subsequent growth–the usual supply-side, trickle-down alchemy–was [...]
Does Oil Upside Cancel Europe Downside?
So I go to get myself a cup of coffee and a colleague asks me, “In terms of the impact on the macroeconomy, will the boost from lower oil prices offset the contagion from European recession?” Lots of moving parts and unknowables, of course, but if the decline in oil prices sticks and Europe doesn’t [...]
Four Charts
1) Gas has been getting cheaper. The figure shows that oil is down about $10/barrel in recent weeks and the average for a gallon of gas is down around 20 cents. That’s big and if it sticks, it puts more disposable income in people’s pockets (one cent off at the pump aggregates up to about [...]
48C!
Ok, not my most compelling title. But this refers to a 30% tax credit to help boost the domestic manufacturing of clean energy equipment. I saw it in action as part of the Recovery Act and it helped a lot. Now it’s back on the President’s “to-do list” for Congress and I’m here to shed [...]
J’Accuse!
I accuse TV news of asymmetry! When gas prices were rising in March, I couldn’t turn around without being asked to explain why we shouldn’t blame the President for higher gas prices (answers: a) oil is a global commodity with prices set on world markets, b) unlike OPEC, we don’t control enough supply to make [...]
Two from This AM’s Paper
Is the Buffett Rule Supposed to Solve Everything? Ruth Marcus in the WaPo raises the first argument I’ve heard against the Buffett rule that maybe makes a little sense, though I’m not sure (she labels the rule “irrelevant”). Her concern is: If the Buffett Rule were magically to pass, raising taxes on millionaires alone risks [...]
Gotcha…Not!
OK, this is a little bit silly. Clearly, whoever wrote this little gotcha piece on something I said today about employment in clean energy isn’t spending enough time up here at OTE, where a couple of weeks ago, I posted this, based on new numbers from a BLS study: …the number of jobs producing clean energy [...]
Gas Notes
Been meaning to get back to gas prices a bit, just based on a few recent articles and adventures in cable land. First, there’s this Adam Davidson piece in the NYT magazine this weekend on how high prices at the pump don’t seem to be changing people’s behavior much, because, he suspects, the average household [...]
Finally, Own-to-Rent…and a Count of Green Jobs
First, years after I first heard Dean Baker raise the idea, a major bank has introduced an “own-to-rent” program that would enable homeowners at risk of default on their mortgages to keep living in their homes. From the WSJ: Bank of America Corp. is launching a pilot program that will allow homeowners at risk of foreclosure [...]
Jared Bernstein’s areas of expertise include federal and state economic and fiscal policies, income inequality and mobility, trends in employment and earnings, international comparisons, and the analysis of financial and housing markets.
