Matt Yglesias raises an important point here about conservatives who can’t abide any increase in tax rates but will entertain raising more tax revenues through reductions of tax expenditures–that cool trillion or so we forgo in tax revenue each year through various favored activities in the tax code, like the mortgage interest deduction or the… Read more
Archive for the ‘New Posts’ Category
Necessary…Not Sufficient
Robert Samuelson of the Washington Post can be a pretty gloomy scold, so when he veered toward some optimism on the economy this AM, I took notice. His assessment that the economy is doing better, at least in a macro sense—consistent GDP growth, payrolls expanding (slowly), household balance sheets moving from the red to the… Read more
Just Because Rep. Paul Ryan Keeps Saying It…
…Doesn’t make it any less egregiously wrong. When I introduced this blog a week ago, I said that one reason for it was to help people sort out some of the extremely misleading assertions partisans are making these days. Rep Paul Ryan seems intent on keeping me very busy. On Meet the Press today, he… Read more
Christy Speaks Truth
A great piece in the NYT today by economist Christy Romer (disclosure: a friend and former colleague) on the right way to think about the strength or weakness of the dollar in an international context. It’s not only straight talk, which as Christy says, is rare on this issue, but it’s a crystal-clear discussion of… Read more
Friday Afternoon Musical Interlude
Sure, I like budget debates, wage trends, occupational projections as much as—probably more than—the next guy, but come Friday afternoons at On the Economy we’re going to get into some music. Classical, jazz, funky—I love it all. But I think it makes sense to start with what IMHO is one of the greatest compositions ever… Read more