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from Dean Baker New York Times columnist Farhad Manjoo tells us that he likes to “explore maximalist policy visions” in his columns. He falls well short of this goal in a piece calling for abolishing billionaires, which actually helps legitimate their existence. The piece repeatedly tells us that their wealth is driven by technology, a point that first appears in the subhead which refers to “tech-driven inequality.” The problem with Manjoo’s piece is that the inequality is not in fact...

There is a lot of ado about the French yellow vests who, somewhat violently and in a tenacious way protest the french government and battle the french police. The protests erupted when the Macron government increased gasoline and diesel prices.  Was this the proverbial drop which made the bucket overflow (”la goutte d’eau qui fait deborder la vase” or, to comply with Anglosaxon culture and to connect with the new nationalism in Anglosaxonia (not to be confused with Niedersachsen)): “the...

Stavros Mavroudeas February 2019 The end of 2018 and the beginning of 2019 were marked by near-widespread volatility in all the major stock markets, as well as by pessimistic forecasts from almost all major Western economic centers. For example, the Wall Street Journal predicts ‘less growth and more uncertainty’, while the IMF and the World Bank cut their forecasts for the growth rate of the global economy. It seems that the big international economic centers are still fearing the...

from David Ruccio If you listened to or read the text of President Trump’s State of the Union speech Tuesday night, you might have been surprised by the explicit mention of socialism. Here, in the United States, we are alarmed by new calls to adopt socialism in our country. America was founded on liberty and independence — not government coercion, domination, and control. We are born free, and we will stay free. Or maybe not—since just last year the Council of Economic Advisers apparently...

from Lars Syll Fallacy 2Urging or providing incentives for individuals to try to save more is said to stimulate investment and economic growth. Again, actually the exact reverse is true. In a money economy, for most individuals a decision to try to save more means a decision to spend less; less spending by a saver means less income and less saving for the vendors and producers, and aggregate saving is not increased, but diminished as vendors in turn reduce their purchases, national income...

If you want to understand why Mark Thoma’s 12-year daily-and-then-some blogging effort has become intermittent, consider that President Shit-for-Brains has made his nomination for the person to ru(i)n the World Bank. David Malpass. This David Malpass. The best part of the nomination so far? This Twitter feed from Charles Kenny. Brad DeLong concurs. And I’m not the only one bringing back my writings from almost a decade ago. David Glasner at Uneasy Money...

from Dean Baker In recent weeks, there have been several bold calls for large increases in progressive taxation. First we had Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), often referred to as AOC, proposing a top marginal tax rate on income over $10 million. This sent right-wing talking heads into a frenzy, leading many to show they don’t know the difference between a marginal tax rate and an average tax rate. (AOC’s 70 percent rate would only apply to an individual’s income above $10...