The Year of the Great Redistribution
One of the worst epithets that can be leveled at a politician these days is to call him a “redistributionist.” Yet 2013 marked one of the biggest redistributions in recent American history. It was a redistribution upward, from average working people to the owners of America. The stock market ended 2013 at an all-time high ... Read more
‘Welcome’ to the Sharing Economy — Also Known as the Collapse of the American Dream
Your opportunity to be a “micro-entrepreneur”: By cleaning other people’s homes or renting out your spare room. Thomas Friedman, and others, have recently extolled the virtues of the sharing economy (see “Welcome to the Sharing Economy,” or “How to Monetize Your Closet“). At the risk of bragging, my immigrant parents were clearly trendsetters in this ... Read more
@JohnBoehner—Why Is a Recently Convicted Cocaine User Serving in the U.S. Congress?
“Our taxpayers don’t want to subsidize somebody’s drug addiction.” – Governor Scott (R-Florida). Unless, of course, that somebody is U.S. House of Representatives member Trey Radel (R-Florida) who was recently convicted of cocaine possession and is on one year probation. In his case, the Congressional GOP leadership thinks taxpayers should continue to subsidize him, and likely pay for his ... Read more
We Have Passed the Economic Tipping Point in Achieving Marriage Equality
A number of experts in law and state politics have written to emphasize the enormous slog that lies ahead for proponents of marriage equality. As a lawyer who knows a bit about politics I share their concerns. But employing my economics “hat” I wish to offer this encouragement – we have passed the tipping point ... Read more
Why CEO Pay Will Keep Rising to Even More Insanely Unjustified Levels While Ordinary Workers Get Squeezed Read
Even casual scrutiny will tell you that the current ridiculous levels of CEO pay bear no relationship to anything other than their highly developed rent extraction skills. Bloomberg reported earlier this year that the ratio of CEO pay to worker pay has increased 1000% since 1950. Fortune 500 companies pay their chieftans 204 times the level ... Read more
The Shutdown Talks Are in Chaos
A lot of readers, when we’ve discussed the budget/shutdown/debt ceiling negotiations, have done the equivalent of declaring it all to be kabuki, that the fix is in. While I have no doubt that any resolution of this impasse is certain to make matters worse for what is left of the endangered species known as the ... Read more
Default Lines
There’s still no political agreement to avert a Treasury default and so the possibility, however remote, is inching closer. What are the risks? Well, the floor is wide open for discussion–no one’s really sure where we’re headed because we’re in uncharted waters when it comes to Treasury defaults. Sort of. Donald Marron at the Tax ... Read more
The Decline of the United States
Writing in the New York Times, Stephen King, the chief economist of HSBC, quotes Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations. “It is in the progressive state, while the society is advancing to the further acquisition, rather than when it has acquired its full complement of riches, that the condition of the labouring poor, of the ... Read more
How to Avoid the Debt Ceiling Bullet
The Secretary of the US Treasury has stated that the consequences of US debt default might prove catastrophic, and could cause credit markets to freeze, the dollar to plummet and interest rates to rise precipitously. These outcomes could bring on a new global financial crisis. One might have thought that the McClintock-Toomey bill could have ... Read more
Three Scenarios for Syria After a Limited American Strike
“… History says, Don’t hope on this side of the grave…” –Seamus Heaney Mr. Heaney’s words are appropriate for this foul situation. I see nothing to be hopeful about in Syria. Whatever happens, the Syrian people will face further torment. President Obama’s proposed limited air attack on the Assad regime, with no boots on the ground, is the ... Read more