Politics Roundtable
Political blogs of interest to economists.
RSS Feed
- Recent Entries
February 9, 2010, 4:18 am, 646890
February 9, 2010, 2:18 am, 646830
Frank Foer, editor of the New Republic, has a guy who writes for him named Leon Wieselter:
Leon Wieselter: Something Much Darker: I will conclude this unpleasantness here, though there are more rants by [Andrew] Sullivan that merit attention. Criticism of Israeli policy, and sympathy for the ...
February 9, 2010, 2:18 am, 646829
That the Greek government claims not to know that it badly needs help is a very strange thing to do if it wants to restore market "confidence"--investors are more likely to trust and have confidence in a government that they think is not made up of clowns:
February 9, 2010, 12:18 am, 646814
The big story out of Minnesota these days is a billboard on Interstate Highway 35 in or near Wyoming, which is a little north of the Twin Cities metropolitan area. Highway 35 is the main North-South artery in this area, going north to Duluth and south to Des Moines. ...
February 9, 2010, 12:18 am, 646813
Center for American Progress writeup:
Reviving the American Empire: America will still be a leader, perhaps the leader, but no longer the boss,” said Stephen S. Cohen, a Senior Fellow at ...
February 9, 2010, 12:18 am, 646812
The section on China's medieval "industrious" commercial revolution from Mark Elvin (1973), The Pattern of the Chinese Past (London: Methuen: 0413286304):
Chapter 9: the revolution in agriculture:
February 9, 2010, 12:18 am, 646810
1) Jim Hamilton: Yes the future deficits are worrisome: [A]t the moment we're observing an amazing willingness of investors and foreign central banks to lend to the U.S. Treasury... 2-year notes paying the lowest yield on record.... So if the government were to borrow another dollar today, invest ...
February 9, 2010, 12:18 am, 646811
Ryan Avent writes, apropos of:
Safety in dollars: Here's a look at the recent relationship between the euro and the dollar... a long run of euro appreciation, then a sudden reversal amid the flight to safety ...
February 8, 2010, 10:18 pm, 646775
I won't speak ill of the departed, and therefore have nothing at all to say about Jack Murtha. Philip Klein, however, notes a potentially important point: if the Republican wins the special election to succeed Murtha in May, the Democrats' government medicine bill could have trouble passing ...
February 8, 2010, 8:18 pm, 646748
The Illinois Democratic Party has taken quite a beating lately. Most recently, it's Scott Cohen, who won last week's Democratic primary for Lieutenant Governor--by 26 points!--but who was forced to drop out of the race yesterday:
Cohen's dream became a nightmare after his surprise win, when reports emerged that ...
February 8, 2010, 8:18 pm, 646747
Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has directed enrichment of a portion of that country's stockpile of uranium to 20 percent. Experts regard this as a significant step forward for Iran's nuclear weapons program. The reaction of Defense Secretary Robert Gates seems significant:
At a news conference with French Defense Minister ...
February 8, 2010, 6:18 pm, 646716
MONDAY'S MINI-REPORT.... Today's edition of quick hits: * Iran: "Iran informed the International Atomic Energy Agency on Monday that it will start producing higher-grade enriched uranium, prompting the United States and France to call for tougher U.N. sanctions against the...
February 8, 2010, 6:18 pm, 646715
Sebastian Edwards (2010). Left Behind: Latin America and the False Promise of Populism (Chicago: University of Chicago: 1265668467).
David Cannadine (2006), Mellon: An American Life (New York: Vintage: 9780307386793).
Samuel Chu and Kwang-Ching Liu, eds. (1994), Li Hung-Chang and China's Early Modernization (Armonk: Sharpe: ...
February 8, 2010, 4:18 pm, 646631
Scott Rasmussen finds that 75% of likely voters are either "very angry" or "somewhat angry" about the federal government's current policies. A plurality of 45% are "very angry," up nine points since September. A mere 19% say they are not very or not at all angry about ...
February 8, 2010, 4:18 pm, 646630
ALL CUTS ARE NOT CREATED EQUAL.... Taken at face value, the debate over "cuts to Medicare" can be a little confusing. For many years, Republicans sought steep cuts in Medicare, which Democrats fought vehemently against. Last year, Dems crafted a...
February 8, 2010, 4:18 pm, 646629
JOHN MURTHA (1932-2010).... A statement released this afternoon: Congressman John P. Murtha (PA-12) passed away peacefully this afternoon at 1:18 p.m. at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington, VA. At his bedside was his family. Murtha, 77, was Chairman of the...
February 8, 2010, 4:18 pm, 646628
COLLINS STILL CAN'T ADMIT HER MISTAKE.... For reasons that are still unclear, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) has decided to take a leadership role in going after the Obama administration's handling of the attempted Abdulmutallab attack. So far, this hasn't gone...
February 8, 2010, 2:18 pm, 646542
UNDERSTANDING 'BIPARTISANSHIP'.... As recently as 2006, when Republican policymakers controlled the levers of power, it was the duty of elected officials to stick to their principles and work on the agenda they presented to voters. In 2010, with Democrats controlling...
February 8, 2010, 2:18 pm, 646540
GOP OBSTRUCTIONISM MAY BLOCK JOBS BILL.... The Senate Democratic leadership hoped to have a vote on a new jobs bill as early as today, but a regional blizzard closed the government and delayed the legislative process. But even as the...
February 8, 2010, 2:18 pm, 646541
REFUSING TO TAKE 'YES' FOR AN ANSWER.... OK, so Republicans want health care reform to be shaped entirely by their ideas. But would they tolerate a plan that includes some of their ideas? Apparently not -- the existing proposal already...
February 8, 2010, 2:18 pm, 646539
Mark Levin (1972), "The High Level Equilibrium Trap: The Causes of the Decline in Invention in the Traditional Chinese Textile Industries," in William E. Wilmott, ed. (1972), Economic Organization in Chinese Society (Palo Alto: Stanford: 0804707944).
Click here to download:
February 8, 2010, 2:18 pm, 646538
February 8, 2010, 12:18 pm, 646477
BRENNAN SETS THE RECORD STRAIGHT.... John Brennan, President Obama's senior counterterrorism adviser, offered a rather forceful response to Republican criticism of the Abdulmutallab case, and GOP demands that the attempted terrorist be treated as an enemy combatant. Brennan said that...
February 8, 2010, 12:18 pm, 646476
SHINING A BRIGHTER LIGHT ON THE SENATE.... Paul Krugman offers readers a brief history lesson. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Polish legislature, the Sejm, operated on the unanimity principle: any member could nullify legislation by shouting "I do...
February 8, 2010, 12:18 pm, 646475
MONDAY'S CAMPAIGN ROUND-UP.... Today's installment of campaign-related news items that wouldn't generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers. * As expected, Arkansas Rep. John Boozman (R) officially kicked off his Senate campaign over...
February 8, 2010, 10:18 am, 646379
We haven't written about the faux controversy over Sarah Palin's writing a few words on the palm of her hand at the Tea Party convention, apparently as reminders for her speech or the Q & A session that followed. Liberals purported to find the presence of phrases like "tax ...
February 8, 2010, 10:18 am, 646378
SCOTT LEE COHEN, WE HARDLY KNEW YE.... Illinois has had its share of political troubles, but the story of millionaire pawnbroker Scott Lee Cohen was just bizarre, even for the Land of Lincoln. Cohen inexplicably won the state's Democratic primary...
February 8, 2010, 10:18 am, 646376
LAYING DOWN THE MARKER.... Richard Clarke, the chief counterterrorism adviser on the U.S. National Security Council for Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, makes note today of what Republicans are doing to the public discourse related to national security....
February 8, 2010, 10:18 am, 646377
SHELBY SHAKEDOWN SHUT OUT?.... Mark Kleiman raises a good question, which I was curious about, too. I don't watch the Sunday talk shows. But did anyone ask anyone about the Shelby Shakedown? It was a pretty big political development last...
February 8, 2010, 8:18 am, 646293
A NEW ROUTE TO THE SAME DESTINATION?.... Most observers of the health care reform debate thought they saw the road ahead: House would pass the Senate bill, and the Senate would approve improvements through reconciliation. Yesterday, President Obama announced he's...
February 8, 2010, 4:18 am, 646161
February 8, 2010, 4:18 am, 646160
1) Robert Solow: Hedging America:
It is nice that Cassidy is able to use the story of the financial crisis to exemplify some of the systematic sources of egregious market failure. But there is a deeper, or at least prior, question that he does not take ...
