economy eyes

by Reader Jack From the NY Times yesterday: “Social Security to See Payout Exceed Pay-In This Year” That’s the headline. The interesting parts are buried deep. In the print edition one has to go not just below the fold, but to the inside pages to find the meat of the story

by Linda Beale why taxes are important from ataxingmatter When I started this blog several years ago, I wrote in my inaugural post that I thought it was important for people to be informed about taxes–how they work, who pays them, and why we need a tax system to support our governmental programs. I thought it might be worth repeating parts of that, given all the misinformation abounding now about taxes

Krugman writes : Andrew Leonard has a good point : if Obamacare is such a disaster for the economy, where’s the market reaction? Silly Krugman. And silly Andrew Leonard

Jamie Galbraith writes in The Nation : In Defense of Deficits The Simpson-Bowles Commission, just established by the president, will no doubt deliver an attack on Social Security and Medicare dressed up in the sanctimonious rhetoric of deficit reduction. (Back in his salad days, former Senator Alan Simpson was a regular schemer to cut Social Security.) The Obama spending freeze is another symbolic sacrifice to the deficit gods.

The Dan Rather interview also reminded me of the many Senators and House members outright retirements or “running for another office” that affect the nature of incumbent advantage in more regular elections. From a cursory google of sources I believe there are 9 senate retirements (4 R, 5D) and 17 (6R,11D) House members retiring outright, and the numbers sort of even out overall when those “seeking other offices” are added to the list.

Maggie Mahar at Health Beat Blog gives a historical perspective to the passage of Healthcare Reform 2010 and Medicare 1965. Maggie’s comments are in the parenthesis in red on transcripts of Rathers and Maddow’s exchange. Dan Rather on Presidents Obama, LBJ and HCR: I saw Dan Rather on the Rachel Maddow show

by Bruce Webb Well me neither.

by cactus A Simple Explanation of How The Use of Derivatives Created The Great Recession In comments to a post by fellow Angry Bear Robert Waldman , reader Cantab writes: Nobody here has come up with a believable story on how derivatives hurt the economy or were the cause of the recession. All we really get is a claim that they happened together and the further assertion that derivates [sic] caused the recession rather than the more likely story that derivatives were the victim of the recession.

by Rebecca Wilder This morning there was an abundance of links evidencing the building anxiety over U.S.-China relations.