A Paul Ryan Profile in the New Yorker
The New Yorker’s Ryan Lizza provides a profile of Rep Paul Ryan, with a rich discussion of his vision for limited government. It’s a good read, but it left me thinking about what it is that troubles me most about Rep Ryan, an earnest guy who’s come a long way and influenced a lot of [...]
The NYT Introduces a Series on Middle Class Decline
So, I see where the NYT is introducing a series on the economic challenges facing the American middle class. That’s good news—it’s obviously a topic of great concern, yet there’s surprisingly little systematic analysis of the economic plight of middle-income families. I wanted to offer a bit of orientation or background material from my own [...]
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 [...]
Larry Mishel and the Wage/Productivity Gap — LIVE!
Here’s me and the great labor economist Larry Mishel discussing some of his recent work on the gap between the real compensation of middle-wage workers and productivity growth. Understanding this issue has become central to the inequality debate and Larry — who’s also the president of the Economic Policy Institute — understands it deeply. One [...]
The Price of Inequality, by Joe S
I not only read Nobel Laureate economist Joe Stiglitz’s excellent new book–The Price of Inequality–I interviewed him about it over here at the Rolling Stone. Check it out.
A Wealth of Wealth Data and Why the Slog is so…Sloggy
A wealth of data on income and wealth was released today from the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) by the Federal Reserve. The NYT reviews some of the main findings here, but there’s a lot more in this report. Most surveys of this sort focus on income and wages, but the SCF lets you look [...]
Richard Freeman on Economic Feudalism
I’ve been meaning to post this great presentation on economic inequality and its corrosive impact on democracy by esteemed economist Richard Freeman. I recommend listening to the mp3 while exercising, thus learning while burning. You might not hear much you haven’t heard before, and some will be put off by the section where he insists [...]
Profits, Profits Everywhere…Compensation?…Not So Much
While poking around in the profits data yesterday, I got interested in a broader look at what’s been going on re the shares of income growth attributable to profits and compensation. Such information is especially compelling right now, because as I discussed on an MSNBC segment with Martin Bashir (and as Paul K amps up [...]
PE and Profits
Nice oped by Steve Rattner on the relevance of Bain Capital’s track record to the presidential campaign. The key takeaway is one I’ve consistently stressed as well: The language in one prospectus seeking Bain Capital investors was clear: “The objective of the Fund is to achieve an annual rate of return on invested capital in [...]
If Only…
Welcome to JB Air’s flight 347 from DC to LA. We’ll begin boarding in a moment. Please look at your ticket to see which group you’re in as we begin our boarding procedure. Armed forces personnel in uniform, please feel free to board early. Next, public school teachers, particularly those from low-income districts, please come [...]
Romnomics Redux
Recent news items lead me to repost this piece from a few months back. This morning’s WaPo, for example, raises the question of what Gov Romney’s private equity experience will play out in the next few months. The Post’s fact checker linked to the piece below in regards to this theme, and I also heard [...]
Wealth, Leverage, and Bargaining Power: Another Compelling Model of the Impact of Inequality
I very much liked this economic model linking inequality, wage stagnation, excessive leverage, expansion of the financial sector, and financial instability. Here’s the breakdown: –Factors outside the model lead to income stagnation for middle and low-income workers, while high-income households acquire more capital assets. This increases the savings of wealthy households relative to lower-income households. [...]
YAIA
Haven’t done one of these for a while, so let’s get to it (questions edited). From this post on Media Matters punchy reaction to a misleading WaPo article re health reform and deficits: Q: Medicare and Social Security are funded with a dedicated payroll tax. If the dedicated taxes ended, would the programs end? What [...]
Road Work
Back on the road today, presenting this talk in Wilton, CT. Any Nutmeggers in the house? See you there. Otherwise, light posting at best. PS: Just read this Nicholas Lemann piece on inequality last night…good read, for sure, but there’s something wrong with it…it’s incomplete in some way that I’ll try to figure [...]
What’s Fair? Five (or Six) Principles of Tax Fairness
This word “fairness” keeps coming up around tax day, particularly in discussions around the Buffett rule. Many have questioned what I and others mean by “fair.” I’ve got five answers. A fair tax system should be: 1) Progressive: those with more income pay a larger share of it in taxes; 2) One that doesn’t exacerbate [...]
Home Health Aides and Labor Standards
Audiences often ask me what it is we should be doing policy-wise to offset wage stagnation, inequality, working poverty. There’s no silver bullet, of course, but one under-appreciated part of the solution, particularly for those in low-paid jobs, is improving, expanding, and enforcing labor standards. By labor standards, I mean things like minimum wages, overtime [...]
More on Inequality and Political Power
I ended this post from yesterday worried that the “what-me-worry” crowd re the impact of inequality on opportunity and political power are wearing dangerous blinders. Today I stumble on this little transcript from Daron Acemoglu tersely amplifying these concerns (from the Center on American Progress series on these issues). Acemoglu is the co-author of “Why [...]
A Debate on Inequality, Opportunity, and Politics
Had a rousing debate on inequality last night with Scott Winship from Brookings, moderated by Reihan Salam, both of whom lean conservative, and both of whom brought generally interesting and provocative views to the discussion. The conservative take on the issue tends to fluctuate from mild denial (Winship, not Salam), to which I strongly object, [...]
The Opportunity Attack
For years, many of the analysts who recognized the increase in inequality thought that it was enough to just document the problem. Surely, the fact that middle class incomes that once grew roughly at the rate of productivity growth were now falling far behind that benchmark was in and of itself a significant problem. But [...]
The President’s Speech and the Ryan Budget: Two Very Alternative Visions
I’ve written that Rep Paul Ryan did the world a favor by not trying to hide the ball with his budget—now adopted by House Republicans and endorsed by Gov Romney. Their vision for America is clear, a vision that we at CBPP have been elaborating through a set of publications in recent days (see here, [...]
Gov Romney and the Poor, Redux
This NYT editorial makes an important connection. Back when Gov Romney said he wasn’t “concerned about the very poor” I cut him some slack because what he meant was: we have safety net programs to catch them (full disclosure: I did criticize him for policies that would tear holes in that net). In that same [...]
The Myth of the Myth of the Disappearing Middle Class
Brookings economist Ron Haskins puts a hurt on some numbers in this AMs Washington Post. His piece has two parts. The first part, discussed below, has a pretty fat thumb on the scale. The second is about how decisions regarding marriage and the pursuit of higher ed can have a profound effect on a person [...]
The Alternate Paths of NDD
In the past, I’ve gotten all choked up about the nondefense discretionary (NDD) part of the federal budget, as only a diehard DC wonk could. There’s a good reason for that. This is the part of the budget that funds programs that are ever more important in an economy where the opportunities of less advantaged [...]
The Science Behind “We’re-in-This-Together”
A number of things I’ve read lately, along with some comments both here at OTE and from folks on the road, have led me to think about linkages between evolutionary biology, specifically altruistic behavior, and political economy. As described in this recent New Yorker article, the fact that members of a species behave altruistically—e.g., they [...]
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.
