We moved to an apartment complex last month from the condo we’d lived in for the last five years. Continue reading Living the #GreatRecession: Notes from our new digs…
Category Archives: Economics
What If We Had Measured #Poverty Differently for the Past 50 Years? | CityLab
The Census’ Supplemental Poverty Measure paints a different picture of the poor and the social safety net.
In 1987, President Ronald Reagan announced defeat at the hands of the “war on poverty“—a war his predecessor Lyndon Johnson had waged since 1967. InThe Atlantic the year after, Nicholas Lemann explained why all anti-poverty programs need not be as “ill-fated” as the ones spearheaded over those decades.
Continue reading What If We Had Measured #Poverty Differently for the Past 50 Years? | CityLab
All The Wealth The Middle Class Accumulated After 1940 Is Gone
Here’s more proof the middle class is dying.
Continue reading All The Wealth The Middle Class Accumulated After 1940 Is Gone
Here Are 5 Takeaways From The Harper’s Anti-Clinton Story
By Sam Levine
October 19, 2014
In the November issue of Harper’s magazine, Doug Henwood argues that Hillary Clinton, if elected president, would do little to assuage liberals’ disappointment in President Barack Obama. This is how Henwood sums up the case for Hillary’s candidacy in 2016: “She has experience, she’s a woman, and it’s her turn.” But, he says, “it’s hard to find any political substance in her favor.”
Continue reading Here Are 5 Takeaways From The Harper’s Anti-Clinton Story
Jared Bernstein: Full #employment, trade deficits, and the dollar as reserve currency
By Jared Bernstein
October 7, 2014
Full employment, trade deficits, and the dollar as reserve currency. What are the connections?
I’ve been looking for an excuse to scratch out a few lines about the connections between full employment, the trade deficit, and dollar policy—connections that understandably don’t jump out at everyone—and I’ve found a particularly good one.
Elizabeth Warren on Barack Obama: “They protected Wall Street | Salon
By Thomas Frank
Sunday, October 12, 2014
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
Bob Herbert: Restoring an America That Has Lost Its Way | Moyers & Company
October 9, 2014Three years ago, reporter and former New York Times columnist Bob Herbert took to the road and traveled across the United States to gather research for his new book, Losing Our Way. Continue reading Bob Herbert: Restoring an America That Has Lost Its Way | Moyers & Company
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.
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.