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United States Channel: Latest Posts
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Finance & Markets
Are Taxes Progressive?
`Lane Kenworthy says people should tell the full story about tax progressivity. What has been presented attempts to defend the wealthy against the charge that they don’t pay their fair share, but “it doesn’t make much sense”: -
Finance & Markets
Stimulus Plan: The Need and the Size
The core problem we face is not access to capital. The Treasury has already flooded Wall Street and the banking system with money, committing nearly $350 billion; the Federal Reserve Board has exchanged Treasury bills for some $2.2 trillion of troubled assets; other agencies, such as the FDIC, have guaranteed trillions more. But there has been no appreciable result. Banks will not lend because they fear borrowers will not repay; businesses will not borrow because they do not have adequate markets for their goods and services; individuals cannot and will not borrow because they do not have enough reliable income to do so.
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Finance & Markets
“I ♥ risk”.
That seems to be the message that Dr. Market is conveying thus far in 2009. The S&P 500 has already exceeded its maximum gain of 2008, when it briefly traded up 0.23% on the year on the first day of trading before closing down 1.4% on the day. Volumes remain modest thus far as many traders still seem to be wiping the sleep from their eyes. Nevertheless, the fact that the stock market is up at all provides as good a confirmation as any that 2009 is indeed a different year than 2008.
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Finance & Markets
“Adding a Trillion Dollars in Debt is Quite Manageable”
`This is from an interview of Kenneth Rogoff:…The Long-Term Consequences of Debt Region: Well, let’s talk about the U.S. debt and its long-term consequences, in the context of the current economic crisis. The Stabilization Act authorizes $700 billion, some of which will contribute to the growth of national debt. Economists such as NYU Professor Nouriel Roubini suggest $2 trillion …
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Finance & Markets
“No New Tax Cuts”
`Jeff Madrick makes the case for government: -
Finance & Markets
Stimulate the Economy by Mending Our Safety Nets
Lots of talk this week about the proposed stimulus. One high priority ought to be the most vulnerable members of our society. The safety net created in the 1930s to protect Americans from extreme poverty is in tatters. Now that we’re in the worst downturn since the Depression, that safety net needs mending. This should be a key part of any stimulus plan.
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Finance & Markets
Good news in income growth?
One of my New Year’s resolutions is to be more consistent in responding to questions and comments from the loyal readers of macroblog. Though it remains the case that time constraints prohibit a response to all worthy queries, we’re still listening. Next year we’ll endeavor to give a shout back just a little more often.
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Finance & Markets
The Current Crisis and the Great Depression: How Similar Are They? (Revised and Expanded)
by Alex Cukierman[1]
The media and various commentators have recently likened the subprime crisis and its ramifications to date to the great depression of the thirties. There no doubt are similarities between the two crises. However it is important to realize that there also are important differences. Those differences lead one to believe that the persistence and severity of the current crisis, although serious, will be substantially milder than those of the great depression. Following a brief summary of the main similarities this blog focuses therefore on the differences between the two episodes.
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Emerging Markets
Free Market Myth
Regulation is everywhere. Let’s choose who benefits.
The extraordinary financial collapse of recent months has been commonly described as a testament to the failure of deregulation. The events are indeed testament to a failure—a failure of public policy. Blaming deregulation is misleading.
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Finance & Markets
No New Tax Cuts
A case for big government
The proximate cause of the financial crisis that has now engulfed the world and led to serious recession in the United States was the bursting of the housing bubble. But the true cause was the anti-government ideology that developed in the 1970s, solidified during the Reagan presidency, and was carried to extremes in recent years by Republicans and, to a significant degree, by Democrats as well. The nation’s economic and political health now depend not on substituting an old ideology for a new one, but on freedom from these ideological restraints and on the pragmatic, robust use of government.
