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Opinion
The Last All-Nighter
Rushing adulthood is not a good thing to do.
Children often do not figure that out.
My high school physics teacher had a sign: "Time will pass. Will you?"
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Opinion
Inequity on Campus
"The task of a child is to be a child"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Fr%C3%B6bel
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Business Day
Fannie-Freddie in Venture to Securitize Home Loans
The Republican discourse has it that these semiprivate entities caused the housing bubble and thus the pop.
As it happened the investment banks caused the bubble.
This program is what the Republicans would have Fannie-Freddie doing in 2008.
Congress commanded the agencies to invest in sub-prime mortgages.
They did and the mortgages went belly up as the banks that wrote them intended. The agencies were rescued then. Now the agencies are commanded to do it again. Proving that government can never be helpful.
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The service is cheaper at eBay. It lacks the cute names and the fashionable address.
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They would never miss a party with money and guns.
Trout fishing is a bow to Eisenhower.
It is too isolating for most congressmen.
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Use good enough equipment to capture great images.
Forget motion.
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Get one if you wish. I will have to learn to ride.
They are fair weather mounts.
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World
For Migrants, City Life Comes at a High Price
We were willing to overlook the drama in Shi Ayi's life, given how essential she was to the family as a caregiver. But I drew the line at murder.
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U.S.
Clinton Urges Court to Overturn Marriage Law He Signed
Former President Bill Clinton said he had come to believe the 1996 law is unconstitutional and contravenes the quintessential American values of “freedom, equality and justice above all.”
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Business
Report Suggests a Digital Divide Among Latinos
A false premiss.
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Republican southerners being typically nasty.
The new south is the old south with a paint job.
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N.Y. / Region
Killer of Girlfriend and Her Son Is Sentenced to 50 Years to Life
The killer, Jimmy Humphrey, did not want to start a family with the victim, Linda Anderson, who was pregnant, the district attorney said.
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N.Y. / Region
Double Crisis: A Pregnant Woman Is Dying
Early Sunday, doctors at Bellevue Hospital Center delivered a boy by Caesarean section after Raizy Glauber of Brooklyn was killed in a car crash.
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U.S.
Maj. Thomas C. Griffin, Doolittle Raider, Dies at 96
Maj. Thomas C. Griffin navigated a B-25 bomber in the daring air raid on Japan led by Lt. Col. James H. Doolittle in 1942, four months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
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N.Y. / Region
You May Now Kiss the Computer Screen
Some international couples are marrying by proxy over the Internet, a practice so new that immigration authorities say they do not typically watch for it in their efforts to detect fraud.
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Business Day
Justices to Take Up Case on Generic Drug Makers’ Liability
Karen Bartlett was grievously injured by a mild painkiller, and the Supreme Court will hear arguments this month on whether the maker can be held responsible.
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Business Day
The Payoff in Delaying Retirement
One way of dealing with the federal deadlock is to have older, healthy Americans work a little longer.
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World
Giving the Young a Bigger Say
Enfranchising children by giving them the right to vote, some researchers say, would be a way to fix political and economic imbalances in rapidly aging societies.
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Technology
Imagining a Swap Meet for E-Books and Music
The prospect of online stores that sell used e-books and digital music has heartened consumer advocates, but publishers and artists are worried.
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U.S.
As Fracking Increases, So Do Fears About Water Supply
The amount of water used in hydraulic fracturing is stirring concerns around drought-stricken Texas as the drilling boom continues.
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Science
Proposed Dam Presents Economic and Environmental Challenges in Alaska
At a time when large dams are being taken down, the state is planning to construct one of the tallest and most expensive hydroelectric dams ever built in North America.
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Technology
Gadgets You Need, Even if You Have a Smartphone
Smartphone apps have made many electronic devices, like the point-and-shoot camera, superfluous. But some stand-alone devices are still useful.
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Education
Philadelphia Officials Vote to Close 23 Schools
The closings are part of a plan by the school district to erase a huge budget deficit and reduce the number of underused schools.
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Opinion
It’s About the Work, Not the Office
Corralling workers in one place doesn’t necessarily lead to productivity or innovation.
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Business Day
San Francisco’s Thriving Agency Start-Up Scene
The San Francisco ad market is being influenced by the entrepreneurial spirit of nearby Silicon Valley, with agency employees going into business for themselves.
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Business Day
Anadarko and Videocon to Sell Mozambique Gas Stakes
A 20 percent stake in an offshore field being sold by Anadarko and Videocon could lead to a breakthrough for development of the country’s considerable energy resources.
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U.S.
Jeb Bush Enters Debate, and Possibly 2016 Race
Mr. Bush could be setting up a G.O.P. showdown with a protégé, Marco Rubio, and another Bush vs. Clinton presidential campaign.
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U.S.
Maj. Thomas C. Griffin, Doolittle Raider, Dies at 96
Maj. Thomas C. Griffin navigated a B-25 bomber in the daring air raid on Japan led by Lt. Col. James H. Doolittle in 1942, four months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
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Education
To Place Graduates, Law Schools Are Opening Firms
Efforts like creating school-run law firms are trying to address the glut of heavily indebted graduates with no clients and a vast majority of Americans unable to afford a lawyer.
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World
A Fight to Save Baby Girls in India
Valli Annamalai, the head of the Mother and Child Welfare Project in Tamil Nadu, has seen progress in her effort to end the area's reputation as one of the worst places for "gendercide" in India.
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U.S.
Looming Cuts Add to Problems at Nuclear Site
The Hanford nuclear cleanup project in Richland, Wash., has been hit by leaking waste, layoffs and delays; now more trouble is ahead.
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Business Day
The Benefits of Working in the Office
Research shows that in some industries, casual interaction among employees enhances creativity and innovation. Plus, some benefits, like free meals, might actually give workers a tax break.
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U.S.
North Carolina to Give Some Immigrants Driver’s Licenses, With a Pink Stripe
This month the state will begin giving some young immigrants driver’s licenses marked with a bold pink stripe and the words “no lawful status” printed in red.
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Health
Deadly Bacteria That Resist Strongest Drugs Are Spreading
Health officials say there is only a “limited window of opportunity” to halt the spread of deadly hospital infections that resist even the strongest antibiotics.
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Business Day
European Central Bank Leaves Key Rate Unchanged
In leaving the benchmark interest rate at 0.75 percent, the central bank chose not to react to political instability in Italy and rising inflation.The English Prisoner
I was particularly struck by the way Cameron is still claiming that Britain’s low interest rates show that his policy is successful and necessary. This is a bit like the high priest sacrificing a virgin once a month to ensure that the sun keeps rising, then claiming that the fact that the sun has risen proves that the sacrifice was indeed necessary. The obvious test is to compare Britain with other countries; if Britain’s 2.07 percent bond yield validates his policies, does America’s 2.05 percent yield validate Obama’s? Or better yet, does France’s 2.10 percent yield validate Hollande’s? Or is the point, perhaps, that every country that borrows in its own currency (or, in the case of France, finally has a central bank willing to do its job by providing liquidity) can now borrow cheaply?
The trouble, of course, is that Cameron’s political career and his very identity are now totally bound up with his austerity crusade. He’s a prisoner of his past, who can’t and won’t change course. Instead, his incentives are all about gambling for redemption — sticking with the policy in the hope that something turns up that will somehow make him a hero."
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Business Day
Pressure Mounts on France to Overhaul Labor Rules
With unemployment at its highest level since 1999, the government of François Hollande is pushing for far-reaching changes to make it easier to hire and fire workers.
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Opinion
The Effects of the Federal Budget Cuts
Readers react to an Op-Ed essay by Joe Scarborough.I Guess It’s a Form of Flattery
OK, I guess I have to say something about this Sachs and Scarborough piece. Let’s do it by numbers.
1. I’m actually flattered. According to JoScar, I’m a marginal figure with whom nobody agrees; and of course I have no powerful institutions backing me, no billionaires with a variety of front organizations to disseminate my views, and I’m espousing a view that most insiders find anathema. Yet he has to write column after column, spend what at this point must be hours of his show, denouncing and trying to refute my position. I guess I must have some secret power that he needs to defeat; maybe the secret power of actually, you know, having the facts on my side.
2. As Kevin Drum points out, when I debated JoScar he waved away all my arguments for more spending now by claiming that he’s for it too; once he doesn’t have me there to keep him on track, he’s back to denouncing spending. I mean, now he says that he was against spending even during the worst of the crisis. That, it seems to me, is a much more consequential and indefensible inconsistency than me having wanted to pay down debt in 1997.
3. I can’t believe they’re rolling out the old line that “we did stimulus and the economy is still weak” line. We did a bit of stimulus, but many people — me in particular — warned from the beginning that it was inadequate. If you want a real experiment in the effects of government spending, you want to look at Europe’s austerity programs, where the relationship between austerity as a share of GDP and GDP growth (from 2008 to 2010) is overwhelmingly clear:
Somehow, none of this evidence gets mentioned or even considered.
4. Shame on both authors for making a big deal of the CBO’s projection of rising interest payments as a share of GDP. The CBO projects a flat ratio of debt to GDP; all of the projected rise is due to an expected rise in interest rates as the economy recovers. Deficits have nothing to do with it — and no conceivable austerity program in the next few years could make more than a marginal difference.
5. I don’t know what’s happened to Jeff Sachs. He’s been critical of “crude Keynesianism” throughout this crisis, without ever explaining what’s crude about viewing a huge slump in aggregate demand through a Keynesian lens. So his position has been a mystery. But now — playing wingman to Joe Scarborough? Really?"
"39 Comments
1. I’m actually flattered. According to JoScar, I’m a marginal figure with whom nobody agrees; and of course I have no powerful institutions backing me, no billionaires with a variety of front organizations to disseminate my views, and I’m espousing a view that most insiders find anathema. Yet he has to write column after column, spend what at this point must be hours of his show, denouncing and trying to refute my position. I guess I must have some secret power that he needs to defeat; maybe the secret power of actually, you know, having the facts on my side.
2. As Kevin Drum points out, when I debated JoScar he waved away all my arguments for more spending now by claiming that he’s for it too; once he doesn’t have me there to keep him on track, he’s back to denouncing spending. I mean, now he says that he was against spending even during the worst of the crisis. That, it seems to me, is a much more consequential and indefensible inconsistency than me having wanted to pay down debt in 1997.
3. I can’t believe they’re rolling out the old line that “we did stimulus and the economy is still weak” line. We did a bit of stimulus, but many people — me in particular — warned from the beginning that it was inadequate. If you want a real experiment in the effects of government spending, you want to look at Europe’s austerity programs, where the relationship between austerity as a share of GDP and GDP growth (from 2008 to 2010) is overwhelmingly clear:
4. Shame on both authors for making a big deal of the CBO’s projection of rising interest payments as a share of GDP. The CBO projects a flat ratio of debt to GDP; all of the projected rise is due to an expected rise in interest rates as the economy recovers. Deficits have nothing to do with it — and no conceivable austerity program in the next few years could make more than a marginal difference.
5. I don’t know what’s happened to Jeff Sachs. He’s been critical of “crude Keynesianism” throughout this crisis, without ever explaining what’s crude about viewing a huge slump in aggregate demand through a Keynesian lens. So his position has been a mystery. But now — playing wingman to Joe Scarborough? Really?"
"39 Comments
Gone Deficit Gone
So says the CBO, although not directly.
Anyone who is serious (as opposed to Serious) about matters fiscal knows that it’s highly misleading just to focus on the raw deficit numbers (ONE TRILLION DOLLARS), for two reasons.
First, fluctuations in the deficit tend to be driven by the business cycle; when the economy slumps, revenues fall and some kinds of expenditure, like unemployment benefits, rise. You want to take out these “automatic stabilizers” when assessing the underlying state of the budget.
Second, we don’t have to balance the budget to have a sustainable fiscal position; all we need is to ensure that debt grows more slowly than GDP.
So CBO is now out with its latest report on automatic stabilizers. It estimates that in fiscal 2013 these stabilizers will amount to $422 billion, accounting for just about half of a projected $845 billion deficit. So the cyclically adjusted deficit will be $423 billion.
How does this compare with the deficit consistent with fiscal sustainability? Well, there’s about $11.5 trillion in federal debt in the hands of the public. A reasonable, indeed fairly conservative guess is that nominal GDP will in future grow by 4 percent per year, half from real growth and half from inflation. This means that the sustainable deficit is 4 percent of $11.5 trillion, or $460 billion. Hey, we’re there!
And next year the adjusted deficit is projected to be much smaller:
Yes,
late this decade deficits will start to rise again thanks to rising
health costs and an aging population, yada yada. But I have yet to hear a
coherent argument about why the long-term problem of paying for the
benefits we want — which will eventually have to be resolved through a
combination of cost savings and revenue increases — should constrain our
fiscal policy right now, in the midst of what remains a terrible
economic slump.
And I would say that the figure above is, in fact, a portrait of deeply irresponsible fiscal policy — because it is just crazy that in this deeply depressed economy we are now pursuing a fiscal policy that is tighter than the policy we followed at the height of the housing bubble.
So let’s try to stop doing that. And everyone repeat with me: there is no deficit problem."
Anyone who is serious (as opposed to Serious) about matters fiscal knows that it’s highly misleading just to focus on the raw deficit numbers (ONE TRILLION DOLLARS), for two reasons.
First, fluctuations in the deficit tend to be driven by the business cycle; when the economy slumps, revenues fall and some kinds of expenditure, like unemployment benefits, rise. You want to take out these “automatic stabilizers” when assessing the underlying state of the budget.
Second, we don’t have to balance the budget to have a sustainable fiscal position; all we need is to ensure that debt grows more slowly than GDP.
So CBO is now out with its latest report on automatic stabilizers. It estimates that in fiscal 2013 these stabilizers will amount to $422 billion, accounting for just about half of a projected $845 billion deficit. So the cyclically adjusted deficit will be $423 billion.
How does this compare with the deficit consistent with fiscal sustainability? Well, there’s about $11.5 trillion in federal debt in the hands of the public. A reasonable, indeed fairly conservative guess is that nominal GDP will in future grow by 4 percent per year, half from real growth and half from inflation. This means that the sustainable deficit is 4 percent of $11.5 trillion, or $460 billion. Hey, we’re there!
And next year the adjusted deficit is projected to be much smaller:
Yes,
late this decade deficits will start to rise again thanks to rising
health costs and an aging population, yada yada. But I have yet to hear a
coherent argument about why the long-term problem of paying for the
benefits we want — which will eventually have to be resolved through a
combination of cost savings and revenue increases — should constrain our
fiscal policy right now, in the midst of what remains a terrible
economic slump.And I would say that the figure above is, in fact, a portrait of deeply irresponsible fiscal policy — because it is just crazy that in this deeply depressed economy we are now pursuing a fiscal policy that is tighter than the policy we followed at the height of the housing bubble.
So let’s try to stop doing that. And everyone repeat with me: there is no deficit problem."
1
Opinion
Big Social Costs Tallied in Regions With Scant Energy Access
A study charts the impact of energy poverty on public health and education.
2
U.S.
As Fracking Increases, So Do Fears About Water Supply
The amount of water used in hydraulic fracturing is stirring concerns around drought-stricken Texas as the drilling boom continues.
3
Technology
Imagining a Swap Meet for E-Books and Music
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T:Style
The Male Bond
A woman may represent a man’s better half, but his friends are his other self. Whether they involve arguing, competing or doing nothing much at all, male friendships are elemental — and a salve to the soul.
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Business Day
Looking to Others for Investing Lessons
Bucks readers discuss whether investment advice for athletes and others whose income can rise to high levels on year and dry up the next was helpful to them.
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Business Day
Anadarko and Videocon to Sell Mozambique Gas Stakes
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Business Day
Fewer Barclays Employees Made More Than £1 Million
Barclays said Friday that 428 employees earned more than £1 million each ($1.5 million) last year, a number is down from 2010, as the British bank has been under fire over several scandals.
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Business Day
The Benefits of Working in the Office
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Business Day
The Rise of Part-Time Work
The economy is nowhere near recovering the jobs lost in the recession, and the record looks even worse because so many jobs lost were full time, while so many of those gained have been part time.
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