Worried about the deficit?
If so, you can help Uncle Sam out. I was doing my taxes, going over everything with a fine-toothed comb (and then some), when this stopped me in my tracks: How Do You Make a Gift to Reduce Debt Held … Continue reading →
Category Archives: Finance and economics
March jobs report?
Not the greatest. Ben Bernacke mused: …that the sharp decline in joblessness ”” the unemployment rate has dropped from a recent high of 9.1 percent in August ”” was not supported by underlying economic growth. The decline has been “somewhat … Continue reading →
Obama: I lowered corporate taxes before I raised them
No, Obama didn’t actually say that. But I wonder how many people will read past the headlines—“Obama proposes lowering corporate tax rate to 28 percent”—and see that the tax paid by corporations will go up, not down: The plan would … Continue reading →
Rent control in the Big Apple
Here’s a column by George Will that tackles New York’s very odd rent control/stabilitzation laws—which have been in effect in one form or other for far longer than my lifetime, and which are being challenged in court: The tenants in … Continue reading →
You know that “growing income inequality” thing? Well…
…maybe not so much. [Hat tip: Instapundit.]
Continue reading →Theodore Dalrymple on the European debt crisis
Our own roiling political waters have obscured some of the other important things going on in the rest of the world. So I hereby present the ever-insightful Theodore Dalrymple, who has a lot to say on the euro crisis and … Continue reading →
Bain and the capitalism question
Ever since this Bain thing has been dominating the news, a lot of people—both pundits and commenters—have been saying that all Romney has to do is explain what he did at Bain and what Bain’s activities are all about, as … Continue reading →
Mass downgrade…
…of Western Europe: Standard & Poor’s will cut the credit ratings of Italy, Spain and Portugal by two notches and downgrade France and Austria by one notch, a French newspaper said Friday, without citing its sources. Yes, there is other … Continue reading →
Newt and the public’s right to know about Bain Capital
I almost feel I need to apologize for writing so much about this, but the Gingrich/Perry v Romney/Bain business has fascinated me far more than I expected it would, and much more than the usual campaign imbroglio. I think the … Continue reading →
Romney at Bain: job creator or destroyer?
This caught my attention: Given the nation’s economic condition, Mr. Romney’s experience at Bain Capital has become central to his narrative for Campaign 2012. At a time when jobs are the issue, the narrative goes, voters ought to entrust the … Continue reading →
Republican candidates against capitalism
I don’t know about you, but I’m angry. I’m used to politics and its dirtiness and hypocrisy, the misrepresentations one candidate routinely makes about the other. They all pretty much do it, especially in their ads. This does not surprise … Continue reading →
Pay no attention to that debt behind the curtain
Regular readers of this blog know that economics is not my field of expertise, although I’m familiar enough with the subject to know that common sense doesn’t get a person very far, and that there’s a great deal of argument … Continue reading →