• Over at the NYT Economix blog: talking about countercyclicality from the perspective of the Federal Housing Administration.
• Pointing to a must-read from the National Journal on Obamacare as political football.
• Noting that Congress shouldn’t oughta get something special for just doing their job.
• Delving into an interesting back and forth going on between Paul Krugman and Ezra Klein re: inequality.
• Illustrating racial/ethnic income gaps vs. wealth gaps.
• Posting some slides from my talk at the Washington State Budget and Policy Center conference.
• Previewing the mini budget deal and looking at the deal’s details as it easily passes the House.
• Detailing a bit of nuance on the minimum wage debate, courtesy of economists David Neumark and Harry Holzer.
• Looking at structural stagnation and the Volcker rule and noting that press on the rule shouldn’t neglect to mention Austan Goolsbee’s role in the rule’s evolution.

Music: some cool jazz from Gene Ammons in this week’s Friday Musical Interlude.
Bonus:  examining some “breaking news” inflation.