Daily Archives: October 16, 2013

Would Janet Yellen as Fed Chair Mark a Shift in Economic Policy?

Posted on October 16, 2013 by Devin Smith | Comments Off

The latest episode of the Black Finance and Fraud Report from The Real News Network. Bill is discussing whether Yellen’s confirmation marks a victory for progressive democrats?

Or you can visit the TRNN site that includes transcripts.

Comments Off on Would Janet Yellen as Fed Chair Mark a Shift in Economic Policy?

Posted in William K. Black

Tagged Black Finance and Fraud Report, Janet Yellen, TRNN

The Tea Party’s Tactical Brilliance and Strategic Incompetence

Posted on October 16, 2013 by Devin Smith | 5 comments

By William K. Black

The Tea Party and its (non) think tanks have proven that they are tactically brilliant in manipulating the Republican Party, but strategically incompetent. Today’s Senate Bill, which will be forced down the House Tea Party members’ throats, is the result of that strategic incompetence. The Tea Party has learned that there are a few things many GOP elected officials are still unwilling to do. Specifically, once the admittedly slow-witted House GOP leadership realized that the Tea Party had marched it to the far edge of a bridge to nowhere and the choices were (Option One: suicide) to keep marching off the bridge into the river (doing grave harm to the Nation and the world, ruining the GOP “brand,” returning the House to control by the Democratic Party, and threatening their own seats or (Option Two: truce) to stop and beg the Democrats for a truce – the GOP leadership would abandon the Tea Party and blame it for the humiliating rout.

Continue reading →

5 Comments

Posted in William K. Black

Tagged grand betrayal, tea party

Off the Debt Limit Hook for at Least the Next Four Months

Posted on October 16, 2013 by Joe Firestone | 35 comments

By Joe Firestone

Provided that the Senate and House follow through on the scenario now on the table, it looks like the game of chicken worked for the Democrats this time. We’re off the hook on default and Government shutdown for now, and Washington village pundits are in full-throated cries of celebration.

Congress is off the hook too. They don’t have to offer any solutions to real, rather than manufactured, problems.

Continue reading →

35 Comments

Posted in Joe Firestone

Tagged #PCS, $60 Trillion Coin, asset sales, austerity, consols, debt ceiling, debt limit, debt limit crisis options, debt-subject-to-the-limit, default, deficit spending, grand bargain, great betrayal, High Value Platinum Coin Seigniorage, MMT, modern money theory, President Obama, public debt

Should We Mind the Gap?

Posted on October 16, 2013 by Devin Smith | 5 comments

By*: Dylan Steelman, Samuel Ellenbogen, Scott Frank and Steve Bodenheimer

Introduction

In his May 2011 column, “Is There Really an Output Gap,” CNBC financial blogger John Carney argues that the output gap—the difference between the economy’s potential performance and its actual performance—is a flawed theoretical construct that policymakers should avoid using as a basis for economic policy. Carney presents most of this through a “thought experiment” involving a hypothetical tobacco-based U.S. economy called Tobacco America. In the thought experiment, demand for tobacco explodes driving up prices for various tobacco inputs and taking the economy to new heights. Eventually the dangerous health aspects of tobacco become widely known and the demand for tobacco plummets, taking the economy down with it. Carney uses the Tobacco America thought experiment to make two arguments against the concept of an output gap—one is stated directly and the other is strongly implied.

Continue reading →

5 Comments

Posted in Guest Blogger

Tagged John Carney, output gap

Boehner’s Trophy

Posted on October 16, 2013 by Devin Smith | 10 comments

By William K. Black

This article is inspired by David Firestone’s article in the New York Times entitled “Boehner’s Last Stand.” Firestone’s lead is the key:

“The nature of Speaker John Boehner’s final battle with the White House on the budget crisis is now clear: It doesn’t matter what House Republicans win in exchange for raising the debt ceiling and re-opening government, as long as they win something.”

I write to propose an award a grateful nation should immediately bestow on Boehner in a national ceremony broadcast live on every media outlet from the White House’s Rose Garden – The Winner’s Trophy. It should be in the form of a Boehner-sized weeping angel bearing the following inscription:

Continue reading →