(click the image for the full-sized chart)
Pulled from the June 30, 2008 issue of The Nation
Archive for the ‘Economics’ Category
Re-creating The Gap That Gave Us The Great Depression
Posted in Economics on July 1, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Plugging the Leadership Void
Posted in Economics, Politics, tagged bush, leadership void, obama, paulson on November 26, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
NYDN’s Michael Goodwin chronicles the events of our national leadership relevant to the economic crisis this month
the total unabashed complicity of the upper class of American capitalism
Posted in Economics, tagged economic crisis on November 26, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
From Tom Friedman’s column yesterday:
‘We always asked the same question,’ says Eisman. ‘Where are the rating agencies in all of this? And I’d always get the same reaction. It was a smirk.’ He called Standard & Poor’s and asked what would happen to default rates if real estate prices fell. The man at S.& P. [...]
Bloomberg’s “Plastic Bag Tax” Proposal
Posted in Economics, Environment on November 7, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
NY Daily News:
Mayor Bloomberg wants to nickel and dime you at the grocery store – taxing you an extra 5 cents for every plastic bag you take home.
New Yorkers use an estimated 1 billion plastic bags per year. City officials aren’t sure what bags they plan to tax, or how they’d collect it – though [...]
Questioning the Right’s Scorn of Acorn
Posted in 2008 Presidential Election, Economics, Politics on October 30, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Citylimits.org takes a closer look at ACORN’s supposed culpability in the housing market crash. It’s really something when the actual record so thoroughly contradicts the propaganda narrative put forth by committed partisans.
H/T: Sam Smith
Greenspan Acknowledges His Share of Responsibility for the Economic Crisis
Posted in 2008 Presidential Election, Economics, Politics on October 24, 2008 | 2 Comments »
WSJ:
Returning to Capitol Hill amid a financial crisis rooted in mortgage lending, Mr. Greenspan said he had been wrong to think banks’ ability to assess risk and their self-interest would protect them from excesses. But the former Fed chairman, who kept short-term interest rates at 1% for a year earlier this decade, said no one [...]
An Open Letter to Joe The Plumber
Posted in 2008 Presidential Election, Economics, Politics on October 16, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
The following was posted at The Swampoodle Report at Sam Smith’s Pregressive Review:
Dear Joe:
I am Charles R. Chortlelywell, chief accountant of Flush Plumbers United – or Change Man Charlie as I’m known around the office.
We are a national organization dedicated to the interests of plumbers earning more than a quarter million dollars a year. [...]
Blog Post of the Day
Posted in 2008 Presidential Election, Economics, Politics on October 16, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
From (who else?) Hilzoy:
Seriously: given all the fretting on the right about Obama’s possible socialist leanings, of which I have seen precisely no evidence, you’d think they would have noticed that someone has recently been taking steps that are genuinely socialist. And that someone isn’t our guy; he’s theirs.
The moral of this story is: there [...]
Addressing Blatant Dishonesty on the Rabid Right with Naked Facts
Posted in 2008 Presidential Election, Economics, Politics, The Straight Talk Express on October 11, 2008 | 5 Comments »
I’m a little late to this party but I haven’t seen many efforts to set the record straight. The right has made much of the following youtube video posted by Michelle Malkin underling Ed Morrissey at Hot Air, showing Barney Frank and I believe 4 other House Democrats at a hearing before the Committee on [...]
On the Financial Industry Bailout Package
Posted in Economics, Politics, tagged bailout, economy on October 2, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Boy did I pick a terrible time to take a break from this forum. Well, I didn’t actually pick this time. I’m still in the field for work, at the moment in a hotel room with a rather precarious internet connection. My days here start very early and are pretty long. I don’t have access while at work [...]
Here’s a Pledge I Didn’t Expect From The GOP Ticket
Posted in 2008 Presidential Election, Economics, Politics, tagged palin on September 15, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
From Sarah Palin’s speech in Colorado today
“This crisis is an issue of real concern, not only for those in our financial markets but everyone across this country.”
“I’m glad to see that in this case the Federal Reserve and the Treasury have said no to using taxpayer money for a bailout.”
“Our regulatory system is outdated and [...]
Neither Cast Ye Your Sapient Economics Before Swine
Posted in 2008 Presidential Election, Economics, Politics, tagged earmarks on September 10, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
John Cole puts the debate back where it belongs
In other words, when McCain talks about earmarks, he is talking about 3% of our annual budget deficit, .6% of our annual budget, and a number too small to even report when discussing our national debt. Or, put another way, he is talking about two months in [...]
Success Stories of the Bush Economy
Posted in Economics, Politics, tagged bush economy, colbert report on August 28, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I kid!
H/T: biliruben at the Rotoguru Politics Forum.
Fleshing out the Tax Cut Proposals
Posted in 2008 Presidential Election, Economics, tagged tax cut proposals, tax cuts on August 28, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
The Washington Post cites the Tax Policy Center in producing this graph:
US Exports Record Quantity of Petrolium Products in May
Posted in Economics, Energy, tagged oil, petrolium, refinery capacity on July 31, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Reuters:
Critics of the offshore drilling plan noted that the Energy Department released data this week showing that U.S. exports of finished petroleum products, including gasoline, diesel fuel and jet fuel, soared to 1.592 million barrels per day in May.
The exports set a record for the month and were up 31 percent from a year ago.
Jim [...]
The Straight Talk Express II
Posted in 2008 Presidential Election, Economics, Energy, The Straight Talk Express on July 23, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
McCain credits President Bush with the recent oil price drop. The White House did not stand by that assessment:
Presidential spokeswoman Dana Perino said the price drop also could reflect diminished demand.
“I don’t know if we fully deserve the credit,” Perino said.
“We don’t predict what happens in the market,” she said. “We can’t really [...]
More on McCain and Balancing the Budget
Posted in 2008 Presidential Election, Economics, Politics on July 9, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
From Hilzoy. Her work on the candidates’ economic proposals has been simply exceptional.
John McCain’s Balanced Budget
Posted in 2008 Presidential Election, Economics on July 8, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Hilzoy breaks it down.
Setting the Record Straight on Obama’s Tax Proposals
Posted in 2008 Presidential Election, Economics, Politics on July 8, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Hilzoy at Obsidian Wings with a thorough fisking of some McCain camp claims.
The Power of Speculation (continued)
Posted in Economics, Energy, Politics on July 7, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
From CNN Money/Fortune Oil speculation: Why we don’t have answers
The case for Congress to regulate oil futures markets:
The problem is that the futures market has gotten so big, and the trading rules in the markets so lax, that it’s not easy to dismiss the speculation theory.
The infamous December 2000 “Enron loophole” is the topic [...]
Ethanol and the Global Food Crisis
Posted in Economics, Energy, Politics on July 6, 2008 | 1 Comment »
On Friday the Guardian UK claimed an unpublished World Bank study found that production of biofuels are responsible for more than half of the increase in global food prices:
The figure emphatically contradicts the US government’s claims that plant-derived fuels contribute less than 3% to food-price rises. It will add to pressure on governments in Washington [...]
The Power of Speculation (In Crude Terms)
Posted in Economics, Energy, Politics on July 4, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Do you buy it? I can’t say I pay any better than cursory attention to economic news and am admittedly a little insecure about my general grasp of economics topics. Perhaps this new writing endeavor I’ve undertaken will motivate me to better familiarize myself with that field.
But it only requires cursory attention to see that [...]
