In my story on the next president and the economy I intimated that higher taxes might be in our future. That got me thinking about what today’s overall tax burden looks like in historical terms. Which meant it was time to make a chart!
“Taxes” covers federal, state and local taxes paid by people (not …
I came across this gem of a quote in an LA Times story on real estate this morning:
“Because the prices are going down so fast, we’ll be hitting the stabilization point sooner,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist at the National Assn. of Realtors.
Now I’m not going to mock Yun for going to such absurd lengths to put a positive spin on …
From today’s Volkskrant (translation mine):
AMSTERDAM – Top executives of Dutch multinationals are threatening to move their headquarters abroad if they keep getting criticized over their salaries. They feel insulted and want more appreciation for their work….
The former chairman of insurer Aegon, Kees Storm … is very outspoken
…
Okay, so that cover story I was whining about yesterday is now online. It begins:
In the waning minutes of his only TV debate with Democratic incumbent Jimmy Carter in 1980, Ronald Reagan looked straight into the camera and asked, “Are you better off than you were four years ago?”
It was a defining question of the campaign — and of
…
John McCain gave a speech (warning: the accompanying ad starts playing as soon as you get to the page) this morning about what the world will be like in January 2013 if we go and elect him this fall. It’s a clever conceit, and while there’s an awful lot of what I guess you could call wand-waving involved (on Iraq: “Civil war has been …
Here’s the new Time (available on newsstands tomorrow) with the story that’s been keeping me from doing the quality blogging that you deserve. I’ll link to it when it goes up online.
The piece isn’t really about what the cover line says it’s about (it’s more about what the next president could and should do to make the economy work …
When the current moderately positive run of economic data began a couple of weeks ago, I mused that maybe we’re going to somehow escape the big financial hullabaloo of ’07-’08 without a recession. I was dubious even then–after all, Lakshman Achuthan says we’re already in a recession, and Lakshman is usually right. But now even more …
I’m writing something large for the magazine today, and I always struggle to post much here when that is the case. Sorry.
What else happens when I’m in composition mode? I drink way too many caffeinated beverages (I’m currently in the middle of an ice-cold Diet Dr. Pepper) and I check Gawker a lot. I don’t really like Gawker anymore …
I’m going to be on CNN’s Your $$$$$ this Saturday and Sunday, talking with Ali Velshi about what the next president can really do about your $$$$$. Or your $$$. Or your $$$$. But not your $ or your $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$, because I try to appeal to a middle-class audience.
Ali is, as far as I know, the most prominent Kenya-born broadcast …
Takeuchi Cullen writes that she didn’t go because “besides childcare and wardrobe issues, I had a doctor’s appointment I couldn’t move.”
Poniewozik just told me he didn’t go because he doesn’t own a tux.
And I didn’t go because I was tired, Mrs. CC was about to leave town for a few days, we were gonna have tacos for dinner, and–either …
Nancy Folbre, an economics professor at UMass Amherst, e-mails with a couple good criticisms of my “Don’t Ditch the GDP” column:
First, no economist that I know of, either on or off the Sarkozy Commission, has advocated ditching GDP. What’s under discussion is the possibility of developing good supplements to it.
Second, the viability
…
I’m a little late to this (it came out on Tuesday), but I just read Newt Gingrich’s “Plea to Republicans: It’s Time for Real Change to Avoid Real Disaster.” It starts with a cogent analysis of just how bad things look for Republicans in this fall’s Congressional elections. “The Republican brand has been so badly damaged that if …
