- Wondering, along with Paul K, if this is really a realistic time for a “grand bargain” budget deal.
- Reviving an important graph from Fed Reserve governor Janet Yellen showing the current and historical impact on real GDP of fiscal stimulus or drag in recoveries.
- Illustrating the corrosive linkage between higher inequality and diminished opportunity.
- Questioning whether technology is blocking the path to full employment.
- Highlighting Neil Irwin’s economic Heat/Spurs analysis: is the winning strategy arbitrage or “pass to the open guy?”
- Discussing wealth effects — the changes to income and spending that occur when asset values go up or down — and home values.
- Arguing that the assertion that we have a shortage of low-skilled workers is not the right defense of immigration reform.
- Pointing to another call for full employment, this time from across the pond.
- Showing that there’s really no wage inflation in this economy.
- Differentiating between what it means to be a cyclical dove/structural hawk (CDSH) vs. a cyclical dove/structural dove (CDSD).
- Rounding up some newsworthy items ahead of an appearance on MSNBC’s NOW! with Alex Wagner.
- Laying out the ninth edition of Sequester Watch: those who forget about sequestration are doomed to repeat it…
Music: this week’s Friday Musical Interlude featured the first movement of one of the pinnacles of human creation: Bach’s Italian Concerto, masterfully played by Alicia De Larrocha.