The Angry Bear

Kevin Quin at Econospeak brought this to our attention. In Memoriam: Robert Solow      One of the tallest trees in the economic forest has fallen:  Bob Solow has died at the age of 99. The modern study of economic growth could not have happened without his work, of course.  He was also one of the funniest economists I know. For years I have had the following quote from him on my office door,  which hilariously sums up his attitude to Lucas...

Each day, I get an array of emails in my In-Box offering up articles, what they think can be interesting reads, or junk. Some are hawking subscriptions too. I like to subscribe to news letters and magazines. The problem being, I never get a chance to finish reading them all. SCOTUS Billionaire Gifts to Thomas: Generosity or Taxable Income? levernews.com, Freddy Brewster, Lucy Dean Stockton, Katya Swank. If billionaires’ largesse was designed to...

Infidel introduced me to Annie’s blog and Annie. Angry Bear lacks for a female writer who can discuss the issues from a women’s point of view, economics impacting them, and other needs. Annie provides a different perspective than what I have on the many topics we discuss at Angry Bear. I am fortunate that Annie allows me to draw from her site “annieasksyou . . . . Our Woefully Underestimated Vice President and the Unforgiving Chattering...

President Joe Biden “has been clear that we welcome manufacturers across the world building their futures in America with American jobs and American workers. However, he also believes the purchase of this iconic American-owned U.S Steel company by a foreign entity — even one from a close ally — appears to deserve serious scrutiny in terms of its potential impact on national security and supply chain reliability.” Labor in the form of United...

Yves Smith at Naked Capitalism posted this Yale Climate Connections commentary on vehicle speeds impacting urban climates. Where I live in AZ, speed limits, stop signs, and stop lights are just suggestions. They are not followed religiously and the accidents are often tragic. Quite a few crosses marking accident spots line the highway out of the city. In a win for the climate, urban speed limits are dropping, Yale Climate Connections, Sarah...

I am offering up something different to Angry Bear readers. The offer is a chance to listen to an article on Radio Atlantic. Or you can read the article: “Read This Before You Buy That Sweater,” The Atlantic, by Hanna Rosin Or at least read the tag. An introduction: “We’re in the coldest season. We’re in the shopping season. We’re in the season of hygge. All the cues point to buying yourself a new cozy sweater. Don’t do it, until you...

Brad DeLong asked me if I had an explanation of how the US economy managed to land softly. He is confident that it is softly landing. This encourages me to actually try to do my job for once and act as a macroeconomist, and also to return to blogging here some. In the spirit of challenging reopening, I will indulge myself by skimping on links, simply asserting things which I could and should back up with a bit of Google. The basic story is that...

More economic news an d this time new single family housing. Completing the housing market picture for November, sales decline bigly, and prices remain down YoY   – by New Deal democrat Our final important pre-year end release was also the final item of housing data for the month, new home sales. To reiterate, the value of this metric is that it is the most leading of all housing metrics. Its big drawback is that it is very noisy and...

December 21, 2023, Letters from an American, Prof. Heather Cox Richardson The Washington Post editorial board today wrote that “the battle for democracy will be fought—and won” by “explaining to the world why freedom matters to everyone, every day.” So, on an evening when our power has finally been restored, but too late for me to do a deep dive on anything, let’s see what that might look like from today’s news:  For years now, the U.S. right...

Fixing a Critical Safety Net Program: 340B, Third Way, Darbin Wofford and David Kendall – Part 2 The Solution: A Patient-Centered 340B Program The 340B program is an essential tool for uninsured and vulnerable patients to access lifesaving medicines. But program discounts should improve patient access and lower costs—not pad hospital profits and incentivize further consolidation in the health care system. To address these issues,...