The Debt Ceiling End-Game
So what can the Administration do, instead of blink, in the debt ceiling staredown?
Read more...Category Archives: Macroeconomic policy
Senators Ramp Up 14th Amendment Pressure on Biden to Counter GOP Debt Ceiling Brinksmanship
Although the GOP created the debt ceiling, Democrats are culpable for neither challenging its Constitutionality nor using the platinum coin.
Read more...Peter Pan Bonds to the Debt Ceiling Rescue?
Yet another way to circumvent debt ceilng restrictions isn’t getting the consideration it warrants.
Read more...Financial Instability in 2022-2023: Causes, Risks, and Responses
Authorities acted promptly and decisively, and each crisis required a unique solution, especially the larger crises
Read more...What is Section 4 of the 14th Amendment, “The Validity of the Public Debt of the United States?”
As the Republicans are digging on raising the debt ceilings, the idea of a constitutional challenge is starting to get traction.
Read more...Income Tax Withholding Payments Stumble Again, Signaling Job Weakness. Will the Fed Start to Consider Backing Off?
Income tax receipts are a good proxy for jobs. That measure has suddenly gone wobbly. If that persists, will the Fed blink?
Read more...Russia Leaves Neoliberal West to Join World Majority
The sanctions against Russia and Russia’s kinetic war in Ukraine have produced great changes in and outside. But what are their implications?
Read more...The Asymmetric Federal Reserve Objective
The Fed’s objective is asymmetric, with inflation overshoots being more costly than undershoots. Using data from the Summary of Economic Projections it shows that the Bernanke Fed was too hawkish, the Yellen Fed was too dovish, and the Fed under Jerome Powell has at times been too hawkish and too dovish.
Read more...The Fiscal Side of Europe’s Energy Crisis: The Facts, Problems and Prospects
A deep dive into the costs and impact of the recent, large-scale European energy subsidies.
Read more...Michael Hudson and Radhika Desai on Dollar Imperialism
A deep dive on the development of the dollar system.
Read more...‘Absolute Hypocrisy’: GOP Unveils Bill to Make Trump Tax Cuts Permanent While Howling About Debt
The point of the debt ceiling melodrama is to give fiscal hawks another whack at budget-cutting. Tax increase are therefore off the table.
Read more...The Gold Standard
A primer on the gold standard, including a discussion of its implications.
Read more...Russia’s Budget Deficit Jumps Amid Plunging Oil Revenues
Russia had a budget shortfall due to a fall in energy-related tax receipts. How serious a problem is this development?
Read more...Scarring, Hysteresis, and Investment in Europe
Fiscal policy can play an important role in limiting hysteresis – a term coined in the 1980s – particularly by promoting government and private investment. However, the political economy of fiscal policymaking typically trades off long-term benefits for short-term gains
Read more...James Galbraith: The Quasi-Inflation of 2021-2022 – A Case of Bad Analysis and Worse Response
Galbraith explains why conventional views of inflation are a particularly poor fit for recent price increases and produced bad policy
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