—Pointing to my interview over at Bankrate.com re the current health of the U.S. economy.

—Debunking the all-too-common misperception that the poor don’t work.

—Illustrating a brief history of slack in the U.S. economy.

—Highlighting new recommendations from OECD and the IMF to strengthen the EITC for childless workers and increase the minimum wage.

—Demonstrating what happens if your stare at the Fed’s dots for too long.

—Adding context to quell predictable criticism over a long overdue proposal to raise the federal gas tax.

—Challenging Greg Mankiw’s claim that taxing wealth accumulation will harm the greater good.

Music: paying tribute to jazz composer and pianist, Horace Silver in this week’s musical interlude.