J. Bradford DeLong's Blog, page 2284

More on the Train Wreck That Is Our Jobless Recovery

Josh Marshall:

The Big Question: With everything else going on this week, I wonder if the biggest thing isn't the fact that congressional Democrats greeted the president's call for new stimulus spending by telling him, in so many words, to go jump in a lake. Not that their response was surprising or that they had much choice, mind you. Going into a tough election, with Republicans dead set against doing anything, politically it doesn't seem remotely realistic. But it's of a piece with...

Ryan Avent on the Jobless Recovery We Are Now in

The past eighteen months have been, from my perspective, like watching a train wreck that you can see coming, but cannot do anything to stop. Ryan Avent:

America's labour market: Something's not working: IN THE summer of 1984, Ronald Reagan declared “morning in America”. Running for re-election after a tumultuous first term during which unemployment rose to a postwar record of 10.8%.... When Reagan’s television advertisement ran, nearly two years after the official end of recession...

What Fears About IInflation?

Mark Thoma takes time off from attending Oregon's graduation to send us to Jim Hamilton:

Economist's View: "It's Not Fears About Inflation": What should fiscal and monetary policymakers be worried about, inflation or economic growth? Jim Hamilton:

There's a common thread to all the above figures, and it's not fears about inflation. Instead it's worries about the level of real economic activity, showing up in a flight to safety.

The market is worried about...

Did Clinton Shift to the Center? No

Jonathan Bernstein:

A plain blog about politics: Did Clinton Shift to the Center?: Brendan Nyhan took down some myth-building by Fred Barnes this week, but in the process I think that Nyhan (and Matt Yglesias, in a follow-up) added to another myth: Bill Clinton's "shift" from left to center after the 1994 election. Was there a shift?  I don't really think so.  Certainly not on spending; Clinton's 1993 budget cut spending (and raised taxes) in order to shrink the deficit.... The...

George Soros Tries to Organize His Thinking..,

George Soros:

George Soros: We Are Just Entering "Act 2" Of The Crisis, And We're Totally Screwed: The first phase of the maneuver has been successfully accomplished — a collapse has been averted. In retrospect, the temporary breakdown of the financial system seems like a bad dream.... But the collapse of the financial system as we know it is real, and the crisis is far from over. Indeed, we have just entered Act II of the drama, when financial markets started losing confidence in the...

The Hottest Spring in Our Records...

Joe Romm:

NASA: Easily the hottest spring — and Jan-May — in temperature record: Lmonth tied May 1998 as the hottest on record in the NASA dataset.  More significantly, following fast on the heels of easily the hottest April — and hottest Jan-April — on record, it’s also the hottest Jan-May on record.... The record temperatures we’re seeing now are especially impressive because we’ve been in “the deepest solar minimum in nearly a century.”  It’s just hard to stop the march of manmade...

The Republican Party Continues Its Downward Spiral...

David Kurtz:

So Not Ready For Primetime: After Nevada GOP Senate candidate Sharron Angle made a mad dash for the exits in the Capitol today to avoid reporters, we asked Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), who chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee, how long until Angle is ready to face the press: "I don't know, I mean I just think it's going to take a few weeks," Cornyn admitted.

IOZ: If By Bigger, You Mean Smaller, Then I Agree: David Brooks/New York TImes FAIL

IOZ:

Who Is IOZ?: If By Bigger, You Mean Smaller, Then I Agree: The New York Times should be published in crayon. Here is David Brooks:

The contrast is clearest in the energy sector. In the democratic capitalist world we have oil companies, like Exxon Mobil, BP and Royal Dutch Shell, that make money for shareholders. In the state capitalist world there are government-run enterprises.... In America, we use the phrase Big Oil to describe Exxon Mobil, BP, Royal Dutch Shell and...

Meanwhile, on an Alternate Branch of the Quantum Wave Function of the Multiverse...

A correspondent writes:

Rand Paul: Ha ha ha ha ha! You had to ask me the “but.” um... I don’t like the idea of telling private business owners--I abhor slavery--I think it’s a bad business decision to ever enslave anyone to make them work on my plantation.

But at the same time I do believe in private ownership.

I think there should be absolutely no slavery on anything that gets any public funding. That’s most of what the Thirteenth Amendment was about, to my mind....

On...

Winston Churchill Liveblogs World War II: June 15, 1940

Winston Churchill:

Although the present Government and I personally would never fail to send the [British:] Fleet across the Atlantic [to safety in America:] if resistance was beaten down here, a point may be reached in the struggle where the present Ministers no longer have control of affairs and when very easy terms could be obtained for the British Island by their becoming a vassal state of the Hitler Empire.... The fate of the British Fleet... would be decisive on the future of the...