Politics
Political Power Needs to Be Used, NY Times editorial (emphasis added):
If ever there were a moment for Democrats to press their political advantage, this is it. Their message on many of the biggest national issues — taxes, guns, education spending, financial regulation — has widespread support, and they have increased their numbers in both houses of Congress. But after years of being out-yelled by strident right-wing ideologues, too many in the Democratic Party still have a case of nerves, afraid of bold action and forthright principles…
After four years of timidity, Senate Democrats say they will finally vote on a budget this year, no longer afraid to stand up for higher tax revenues and targeted spending increases. That is a sign of progress, but it remains to be seen how strong a budget will pass and how many Democrats will back it.
Politicians play in a rugged arena and are understandably obsessed about losing power. But that power needs to be used for something other than perpetual re-election. The next two years will challenge lawmakers of both parties to demonstrate that they came to Washington for a purpose.
Economics
In Hard Economy for All Ages, Older Isn’t Better … It’s Brutal by Catherine Rampell
In the current listless economy, every generation has a claim to having been most injured. But the Labor Department’s latest jobs snapshot and other recent data reports present a strong case for crowning baby boomers as the greatest victims of the recession and its grim aftermath.
These Americans in their 50s and early 60s — those near retirement age who do not yet have access to Medicare and Social Security — have lost the most earnings power of any age group, with their household incomes 10 percent below what they made when the recovery began three years ago…
Government is hurting the economy — by spending too little by Ezra Klein
You’ve heard this before: The government is holding the economy back. And it’s true. The newly released numbers for economic growth in the fourth quarter, which show the economy shrinking at an 0.1 percent annual rate, prove that. But exactly what the government is doing to hold the economy back might surprise you…
Despite the stimulus and various other policies we’ve passed to help the recovery, and despite the large deficits the government has been running, government spending and investment have, at all levels, been contractionary since 2010.
The new numbers the Bureau of Economic Analysis released on fourth-quarter economic growth have received considerable attention for the clear damage that falling government spending did to the economy.
Charts: What if Obama spent like Reagan? by Ezra Klein
In 10 of the past 12 quarters, total government spending and investment has fallen, dragging down the Obama economy. That’s in large part because state and local cutbacks have been so severe, but it’s also because federal spending and investment has, on the whole, been falling since 2010…
That made me curious: How does government spending and investment during Obama’s first term compare to Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush’s first terms? The answer is poorly. Whereas total government spending dropped in 10 out of the 16 quarters that comprised Obama’s first term, it rose in 13 out of Reagan’s first 16 quarters, and 13 out of Bush’s first 16 quarters.
The reason Obama hasn’t “explained Keynesianism” is because Obama is not a Keynesian by Daniel Kuehn
There’s a good reason why the administration, Congressional Democrats, and Congressional Republicans have been obsessed with the public debt and have virtually ignored the jobs deficit: they are not Keynesians. In fact except for the ones running around talking about Hayek they don’t have much of any guiding lights when it comes to economic theory. They’re politicians…
We Need More Government Spending Right Now, Not Less… by Brad DeLong
For consensus [values of marginal tax-and-transfer share] and [Keynesian spending multiplier]…and for a (lowballed) [value of hysteresis shadow of present depression cast upon future economic growth], this means that it is fiscally prudent to boost spending now as long as you do not expect the weighted-average real interest rate on government debt to be above 5%/year in the long-run–the nominal rate to be above 7%/year–in the future. For a lowballed [fiscal multiplier value], you have to expect the weighted-average real interest rate on government debt to be above 3.75%/year in the long-run.
Even a moment’s look back at history reveals that real interest rates above 3.75%/year–let alone above 5%/year are above the range in which the U.S. can expect to see interest rates remain for the long run.
Guns
Confessions of a Liberal Gun Owner by Justin Cronin
I am a New England liberal, born and bred. I have lived most of my life in the Northeast – Boston, New York and Philadelphia – and my politics are devoutly Democratic. In three decades, I have voted for a Republican exactly once, holding my nose, in a mayoral election in which the Democratic candidate seemed mentally unbalanced.
I am also a Texas resident and a gun owner. I have half a dozen pistols in my safe, all semiautomatics, the largest capable of holding 20 rounds. I go to the range at least once a week, have applied for a concealed carry license and am planning to take a tactical training course in the spring. I’m currently shopping for a shotgun, either a Remington 870 Express Tactical or a Mossberg 500 Flex with a pistol grip and adjustable stock…
There are a lot of reasons that a gun feels right in my hand, but I also own firearms to protect my family. I hope I never have to use one for this purpose, and I doubt I ever will. But I am my family’s last line of defense. I have chosen to meet this responsibility, in part, by being armed. It wasn’t a choice I made lightly. I am aware that, statistically speaking, a gun in the home represents a far greater danger to its inhabitants than to an intruder. But not every choice we make is data-driven. A lot comes from the gut.
Loaded by Garret Keizer
I grew up with guns and I live in a region where many people have [guns]. They have guns because they hunt for meat, and they have guns for the same reason that many of them also have ponds dug close to their barns and houses. In a community with no fire hydrants, you want water for the fire engine. And in an area where a handful of state police and part-time sheriffs patrol a vast web of back roads spread across three counties, you might want the means to defend yourself. I own a fire extinguisher, a first-aid kit, and a shotgun. Not to own any of these would strike me as an affectation.
Adding to the list of reasons why I remain unimpressed by the Obama administration
Choice of Mary Jo White to Head SEC Puts Fox In Charge of Hen House by Matt Taibbi
I was shocked when I heard that Mary Jo White, a former U.S. Attorney and a partner for the white-shoe Wall Street defense firm Debevoise and Plimpton, had been named the new head of the SEC.
I thought to myself: Couldn’t they have found someone who wasn’t a key figure in one of the most notorious scandals to hit the SEC in the past two decades? And couldn’t they have found someone who isn’t a perfect symbol of the revolving-door culture under which regulators go soft on suspected Wall Street criminals, knowing they have million-dollar jobs waiting for them at hotshot defense firms as long as they play nice with the banks while still in office?
New SEC Chief Mary Jo White Thinks the Government Should Bring Cases – ‘To A Point’ by Matt Taibbi.
It’s certainly strange that White has to qualify the idea that bringing cases is a positive thing in a government official – that bringing cases is a “positive thing . . . to a point.” Can anyone imagine the future head of the DEA saying something like, “For a prosecutor, bringing drug cases is a positive, to a point?”
Uncategorized
Germany sets solar record, meets half of electricity demand by Ian Steadman
Germany’s investment in renewables has seen the country set the world record for photovoltaic energy generation at 22 gigawatts per hour — or approximately 50 percent of German electricity demand.