All posts by Rima Regas

#GOP’er #Tillis: #Dems ‘Redistributed’ Trillions On ‘De Facto #Reparations’

By DANIEL STRAUSS
Published 

Elizabeth Warren on Barack Obama: “They protected Wall Street | Salon

By Thomas Frank
Sunday, October 12, 2014

EXCLUSIVE: Elizabeth Warren on Barack Obama: “They protected Wall Street. Not families who were losing their homes. Not people who lost their jobs. And it happened over and over and over”

“There has not been nearly enough change,” she tells Salon, taking on Obama failures, lobbyists, tuition. So 2016?

Continue reading Elizabeth Warren on Barack Obama: “They protected Wall Street | Salon

Fixing the Downward Bias in the #Unemployment Rate | Jared Bernstein

 

High-Stakes Musical Chairs: Fixing the Downward Bias in the Unemployment Rate
By Jared Bernstein
October 10, 2014

Ever since the JOLTS (Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey) came into existence, labor market analysts have looked at the ratio of unemployed to job openings. In fact, the BLS publishes that very metric monthly (see chart 1 here). My old EPI colleague Jeff Wenger used to call it the “musical chairs” number, as when it goes up (high levels of job seekers per job), you can envision a bunch of folks trying to get the one seat/job when the music stops.

Continue reading Fixing the Downward Bias in the #Unemployment Rate | Jared Bernstein

Full employment and trade deficits: PK v. JB re $ | Jared Bernstein | On the Economy

By Jared Bernstein

October 8, 2014

Paul K’s agrees with me on the core aspects of my post yesterday regarding our persistent trade deficits as a barrier to full employment, but disagrees the dollars status as a reserve currency has much to do with it.

Continue reading Full employment and trade deficits: PK v. JB re $ | Jared Bernstein | On the Economy

The Importance of Extending Pro-work Supports in Key Anti-Poverty Programs | Jared Bernstein | On the Economy

By Jared Bernstein

October 9, 2014

If you will take a brief amble with me through some budget weeds, I assure you it will be in your interest.

Even people who pay some attention to such things don’t know that an important work-support for low-income families is scheduled to expire at the end of 2017. I’m talking about parts of the refundable portions of the Child Tax Credit (CTC) and the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) that were expanded in recent years. Without Congressional action, these improvements will go up in smoke at the end of 2017.

Continue reading The Importance of Extending Pro-work Supports in Key Anti-Poverty Programs | Jared Bernstein | On the Economy

Childhood memories… My sweet Jamil

My parents’ closest friends had a son, Jamil, who was almost exactly my age. We were playmates during a large portion of my early childhood. While we weren’t in the same class, we attended the same school. We were together during recess and lunch. We went on vacations together and we spent our summers at the beach together. My dad and his had purchased adjoining beach bungalows. Continue reading Childhood memories… My sweet Jamil

Neoliberalism has brought out the worst in us | Paul Verhaeghe | The Guardian

Paul Verhaeghe

We tend to perceive our identities as stable and largely separate from outside forces. But over decades of research and therapeutic practice, I have become convinced that economic change is having a profound effect not only on our values but also on our personalities. Thirty years of neoliberalism, free-market forces and privatisation have taken their toll, as relentless pressure to achieve has become normative. If you’re reading this sceptically, I put this simple statement to you: meritocratic neoliberalism favours certain personality traits and penalises others. Continue reading Neoliberalism has brought out the worst in us | Paul Verhaeghe | The Guardian