Live from La Farine: We have been tiptoeing around the problem with Republican likely primary voters.
The problem is this: They do not understand and have not internalized America's core freedom-loving and immigrant-friendly values.
The fact that the country has failed to absorb this deviant population culturally and ideologically is, perhaps, the biggest challenge facing America today:
: Republican Voters Like What Donald Trump Is Selling: "These aren't polls of tea partiers...
|
|
|
Most-Recent Must-Reads:
Most-Recent Links:
|
|
|
Must-Read: : Why Conspiracy Theories Flourish on the Right: "Matt Yglesias flagged this quote from Ryan Lizza's great story...
|
|
|
Must-Read: : Why Education Does Not Fix Poverty: "Brookings and the American Enterprise Institute claim to have hatched a bipartisan consensus plan for reducing poverty...
|
|
|
Live from Evans Hall: I would merely point out that the out-of-touch elite is not confined to the Republican Party.
There are substantial elements within the Brookings-Third Way wing of the Democratic coalition that would rather cut Social Security than establish a sensible retirement-income system, and that would rather cut Medicare than improve the efficiency of health care finance and delivery, after all. As all of the authors of the Brookings-AEI joint "consensus plan for reducing poverty and restoring the American dream" write:
there are reasonable ways both to cut spending and to raise revenue that are consistent with our core values. For example, Social Security spending is projected to consume over one percentage point more of national income in 2040 than it does today...
Why a one-percentage-point rise in the GDP share of Social Security is something that calls in any technocratic sense for cuts to the Social Security system is something that eludes me. What cutting Social Security has to do with reducing poverty eludes me. But it is something that all fifteen of the authors thought was so obvious as to require no explanation or justification whatsoever...
: Empowering the Ugliness: "The story is quite different in America...
|
|
|
Must-Read: I would beg the highly-esteemed Mark Thoma to draw a distinction here between "inappropriate" and unwise. In my view, it is not at all inappropriate for Fed Chair Janet Yellen to express her concern about excessive inequality. Previous Fed Chairs, after all, have expressed their liking for inequality as an essential engine of economic growth over and over again over the past half century--with exactly zero critical snarking from the American Enterprise Institute for trespassing beyond the boundaries of their role.
But that it is not inappropriate for Janet Yellen to do so does not mean that it is wise. Mark's argument is, I think, that given the current political situation it is unwise for Janet to further incite the ire of the nutboys in the way that even the mildest expression of concern about rising inequality will do.
That may or may not be true. I think it is not.
But I do not think that bears on my point that Michael R. Strain's arguments that Janet Yellen's speech on inequality was inappropriate are void, wrong, erroneous, inattentive to precedent, shoddy, expired, expired, gone to meet their maker, bereft of life, resting in peace, pushing up the daisies, kicked the bucket, shuffled off their mortal coil, run down the curtain, and joined the bleeding choir invisible:
: Why It's Tricky for Fed Officials to Talk Politically: "I think I disagree with Brad DeLong...
|
|
|
Eleanor Roosevelt: "Our race and our religion should not place any special handicaps upon us. That is the concept on which these United States came into being, and the sooner we bring it to fulfillment, the sooner will the dreams of many of our people come true..."
Continue reading "Liveblogging History: December 11, 1945: Eleanor Roosevelt" »
|
|
|
: Ford builds its 1 millionth car:
On December 10, 1915, the 1 millionth Ford car rolls off the assembly line at the River Rouge plant in Detroit.
Continue reading "Liveblogging History: December 10, 1915: Ford's Millionth Car" »
|
|
|
Two things most worth noting from this archive trawl:
The Federal Reserve's insistence a year ago that it knew better than the bond market what 2015 would bring. Guess what? It did not. Yet I see no signs in the Fed of its doing any Bayesian updating, either with respect to its own internal thinking or with respect to how much much it thinks the bond market has something to say...
The very strange left-wing Democratic Party opposition to Antonio Weiss's appointment to the Treasury--without having any alternative candidate who the Democratic left could say it preferred. This strikes me as irresponsible. My view: if you don't like who Obama has chosen to nominate for a job, tell him who is qualified for the job and would take it who would do it better, or go home..
|
|
|
Must-Read: Norm Ornstein quite a while ago had a good line about why moderate Republicans have never fought to keep their core moderate voters engaged in the party by, for example, threatening to walk to the moderate Democrats if their core voters' concerns are dissed: "It’s almost like you are in a religion. You look at misbehavior on the part of the leaders of that religion, and you are shocked and dismayed, but you are not leaving your religion. And you are still going to go to church: you just can’t give up something that you held in a lifelong way.... Democrats are just different... don’t have the same discipline...
: Trumpism Is a Natural Consequence of the GOP Refusing to Moderate on Taxes or Immigration: "On one level, yes, Trump is an outlier...
|
|
|
The things most worth reading in this archive trawl are the pointers to Tim B. Lee's complaint against Reihan Salam's rejection of the DREAM Act and the Paul Krugman-Carmen Reinhart debate...
|
|
|
Live from Evans Hall: Musing on One's Intellectual Duties: Apropos of David Romer's teaching Gabriel Chodorow-Reich and other things this morning...
|
|
|
Live from La Farine: It is very clear to me that Nino Scalia has found one minority that deserves support from extra-strict scrutiny: peculiar doctrines held by the current hierarchs of a religious sect to which five Supreme Court justices belong. Perhaps he could get himself out of his pickle by reasoning forward from there?
: Justice Antonin Scalia Questions Logic Behind Gay Rights Protections: "The Supreme Court’s decisions protecting gay rights were not rooted in the Constitution...
|
|
|
Must-Read: As someone who in 1993 put my copy of "Civilization" in the microwave, on the grounds that I could be either a computer-game addict or a deputy secretary of the Treasury, but probably not both, I have very mixed feelings about this...
: Digital Dopamine: "Consider the one app category that continues to succeed wildly on the App Store...
|
|
|
Must-Watch: : Connecting American Foreign Policy to Economic Policy: "How might a reimagined American foreign policy both bolster the domestic economy...
|
|
|
: Dissent: Lochner v. People of State of New York: "I regret sincerely that I am unable to agree with the judgment.... This case is decided upon an economic theory...
Continue reading "Today's Economic History: Oliver Wendell Holmes in Lochner" »
|
|
|
Must-Read: (2014): The Pernicious Prison of the Price Theory Paradigm: "Steve Randy Waldman has utterly pre-empted the need for this post...
...cut to the core of the thing, in the opening line of his latest (collect the whole series!):
When economics tried to put itself on a scientific basis by recasting utility in strictly ordinal terms, it threatened to perfect itself to uselessness.
|
|
|
: Inequality, Technocracy, Utility, and the Federal Reserve: A Short Twitter Dialogue on Various Matters of Moral Philosophy, or, IT'S OK FOR THE FED CHAIR TO TALK ABOUT INEQUALITY!!!!
Continue reading "Inequality, Technocracy, Utility, and the Federal Reserve" »
|
|
|
Over at Equitable Growth--The Equitablog:
Continue reading "Things to Read for Your Lunchtime Procrastination on December 10, 2015" »
|
|
|
Must-Read: The principal question the Federal Reserve should be discussing right now is: When the next adverse macro economic shock comes, the Fed needs to be in a position to cut the federal funds rate by up to 500 basis points. What should we be doing now to create an economy as fast as possible that is strong enough to allow for such a federal funds rate? Yet I am seeing no chatter around this question at all. Perhaps the silence is simply a consensus of despair?
: And That's A Wrap: "The service sector number continues to bounce around a respectable range...
|
|
|
Must-Must-Must-Watch: Or, preferably I think, read--because they now have transcripts, so you can much more quickly absorb what are, I think, the best extended interview-format pieces I have seen:
: Alphachatterbox: "Our podcast chat with Reihan Salam...
|
|
|
Must-Read: : Eurodespair: "I warned about 'siren voices' calling for tighter monetary policy...
|
|
|
Live from the Roasterie: : Alan Grayson Was Right: "Remember when people made fun of Alan Grayson for this:
|
|
|
I must say, this anniversary reminds me that people really should read Michael Kinsley's The Old New Republic rants about how inflation will come TO KILL US ALL ANY DAY NOW EVEN THOUGH THERE IS NO RATIONAL ARGUMENT THAT IT SHOULD!!!
They were truly amazing in their day. If you want my precis, I think this will do:
Kinsley's earlier article contains eighteen occurrences of "Krugman"--yet not a single link to... not a single quote from... Krugman.... One single link... quote from... Stuckler and Basu.... "Stuckler" did not appear... "Basu" did not appear in Kinsley's article at all.... And what is the connection of Stuckler and Basu's article to the never-quoted and never-linked to but mentioned-eighteen-times Paul Krugman? It is, Kinsley writes: "[Krugman] did not write the paper about how austerity kills, but it fits comfortably with everything else he’s been writing on the subject." In short: Krugman didn't write it, and I am too lazy to quote from anything Krugman did write, so I will say it "fits comfortably" with what he writes, and proceed as if Krugman did write it...
Kinsley: May 21, 2013 | May 16, 2013 | April 1, 2010
I see considerable moral fault here--moral fault that applies to Frank Foer, who was really not even trying to do his job as editor.
|
|
|
: Why Did Islamic Medieval Institutions Become so Different from Western Medieval Institutions?: "There is a pattern here; a pattern that shows Western Medieval institutions...
...as more recognizable, more prominent, more assertive than their Islamic counterparts. Obviously, this does not mean that Islamic institutions did not exist: there was no central religious organization, but religious dogma and rituals were consistently shared by a huge number of believers; socio-political institutions were somehow foggy, but coercion was exerted in Islamic social formations; town or city halls were never built, but Medieval Islamic cities expanded and worked successfully, integrating large populations. So, institutions certainly did exist in Islamic societies. The challenging issue is that they seem to have been consistently different from the ones we find in the Medieval West....
Continue reading "Today's Economic History: Eduardo Manzano on Mulk and Ulama" »
|
|
|
On December 8, 1945, Patton's chief of staff, Major General Hobart Gay, invited him on a pheasant hunting trip near Speyer to lift his spirits.
Continue reading "Liveblogging World War II: December 9, 1945: George S. Patton" »
|
|
|
GUEST POST: Michael DeLong michaeldelong94@gmail.com: This year, health care companies have been striking deals at an impressive rate: Anthem/Cigna, Aetna/Humana, and Centene/Health Net. Plus in October 2015 Allergan reported that it was going to be bought by Pfizer.
Thus gigantic companies worth $270 billion are now in the process of being merged. It seems highly likely that these mergers will limit competition and choice, result in higher insurance premiums and hospital prices, help companies evade regulation, to the significant financial harm of health-care consumers.
Continue reading "Thoughts on Recent Proposed Health Care Mergers: Guest Post by Michael DeLong" »
|
|
|
Over at Equitable Growth--The Equitablog:
Continue reading "Things to Read for Your Morning Procrastination on December 8, 2015" »
|
|
|
Live from the Roasterie: The Party--Republican, that is--ain't doin' no decidin'. Or, rather, the Party decided for JEB!--and the base rejected the Party's choice, and now the Party cannot re-decide for Kasich or Rubio (or Romney) in time for it to do much good. That is how I see it.
: Who Says the Party Has to Decide?: "Relevant to yesterday’s post is the conviction of some GOP money men that the Great Jeb! is coming...
|
|
|
Must-Read: : The Political Aftermath of financial Crises: Going to Extremes: "Far-right parties are the biggest beneficiaries...
|
|
|
Must-Read: As John Maynard Keynes wrote 80 years ago:
It is certain that the world will not much longer tolerate the unemployment which, apart from brief intervals of excitement, is associated... with present-day capitalistic individualism. But it may be possible by a right analysis of the problem to cure the disease while preserving efficiency and freedom...
But not with European orthodox policymakers and establishment elites who appear clueless with respect to what the real stakes are here:
: That 30s Show: "A few years ago de Bromhead, Eichengreen, and O’Rourke looked...
|
|
|
Live from Caribou Coffee: A strange piece from the sharp Ed Luce on Obama:
: Barack Obama’s Achilles Heel on Terrorism: "It is hard to fault the content of Mr Obama’s response [to ISIS]...
|
|
|
: Tesla's New Device Like Bolts of Thor:
Nikola Tesla, the inventor, winner of the 1915 Nobel Physics Prize, has filed patent applications on the essential parts of a machine the possibilities of which test a layman's imagination and promise a parallel of Thor's shouting thunderbolts from the sky to punish those who angered the gods. Dr. Tesla insists there is nothing sensational about it, that it is but the fruition of many years of work and study. He is not yet ready to give the details of the engine which he says will render fruitless any military expedition against a country which possesses it. Suffice to say that the destructive invention will go through space with a speed of 300 miles a second, and manless airship without propelling engine or wings, sent by electricity to any desired point on the globe on its errand of destruction, if destruction its manipulator wishes to effect.
Continue reading "Liveblogging World War I: December 8, 1915: Nicola Tesla" »
|
|
|
Must-Read: As John Maynard Keynes famously wrote, a government dedicated to producing a high-pressure economy is needed to enable entrepreneurship, enterprise, and growth. A government that does not only fail to work to generate high-pressure now, but also lacks a plan for fighting the next recession, is a government that drives the Confidence Fairy far away indeed:
: Central Bankers do Not Have as Many Tools as They Think: "It is agreed that the ‘neutral’ interest rate...
|
|
|
Must-Read: I oscillate between thinking that this is a huge problem for America, and thinking that this is a good sign for America--that political prejudice is a product of the fact that racial prejudice is no longer assumed and presumed. But I do wonder if Sean Westwood and Shanto Iyengar understand the world in which they live, which does require that they spend at least some time watching Fox News:
: We’ve Grown Apart: "Shanto Iyengar... and... Sean Westwood...
|
|
|
Over at Equitable Growth: The answer to the last point Janet Yellen makes in her famous Footnote 14 is:
Continue reading "Marginal Notes on Janet Yellen's Footnote 14" »
|
|
|
Live from the Roasterie:
|
|
|
That was a refreshing chaser: watching Michael Duncan on the pseudo-intellectual pretensions of Niall Ferguson--does Ferguson believe that Gibbon would have seen any parallels between the massacre at Paris and the sack of Rome by the Goths in 410? No. Gibbon would have sent people not to chapter 31 but instead to chapter 64 of his history:
: History Of The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire, Volume 6, chapter 64: "The conquest of Hindostan by the Moguls was reserved in a later period for the house of Timour...
|
|
|
Live from Evans Hall: : GEA December Student Seminar Series: "The following students will be presenting their work...
...in the Annual December Student Seminar Series, hosted by the Graduate Economics Association:
- December 7: 10:00 - 10:30 David Schoenholzer
- 10:30-11:00 Katja Mann
- 11:00-12:00 Michèle Müller-Itten
- 12:00-1:00 Wendy Jin
- 1:00-2:00 Tom Beckford
|
|
|
: What the Paris Attacks and the Fall of Rome Have in Common: Nothing: "Ferguson begins... describing the sack of Rome in 410 by the Goths...
...then asks: ‘Now, does that not describe the scenes we witnessed in Paris on Friday night?’ The answer is: No, it does not....
|
|
|
Over at Equitable Growth--The Equitablog:
Continue reading "Things to Read for Your Morning Procrastination on December 7, 2015" »
|
|
|
Must-Read: Mark Thoma sends us to Paul Krugman on the Fed's forthcoming likely policy mistake with respect to this month's interest-rate liftoff. My take: there is one chance in two that in June of 2018 the Federal Reserve will be wishing it had not raised interest rates in December 2015--it is, of course, unable to effectively catch up in policy terms:
: The Not-So-Bad Economy: "I believe that the Fed is making a mistake...
|
|
|
Must-Read: : Obama's Terrorism Speech: "Obama... believes that powerful, structural forces will lead liberal democracies to triumph...
|
|
|
GENTLEMEN OF THE CONGRESS:
Since I last had the privilege of addressing you on the state of the Union the war of nations on the other side of the sea, which had then only begun to disclose its portentous proportions, has extended its threatening and sinister scope until it has swept within its flame some portion of every quarter of the globe, not excepting our own hemisphere, has altered the whole face of international affairs, and now presents a prospect of reorganization and reconstruction such as statesmen and peoples have never been called upon to attempt before.
Continue reading "Liveblogging World War I: December 7, 1915: State of the Union" »
|
|
|
Comment of the Day: Gene O'Grady: Early Monday Smackdown: David Graeber Resurfaces in My Twitterstream!: "Can we leave Graeber aside, with respect for what his mother did...
J. Bradford DeLong on December 09, 2015 at 04:38 AM in Books, Economics: History, Streams: Comment of the Day | Permalink | Comments (0)