tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-126557042012-02-16T07:46:40.350-05:00The center bites back!Glenn Cassidynoreply@blogger.comBlogger371100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12655704.post-82019345427546668942011-11-08T09:45:00.003-05:002011-11-08T10:20:23.499-05:00

There are macroeconomic reasons for the federal government to run a deficit right now: slow growth, high unemployment, interest rates near zero. In the current environment fiscal policy is needed to stimulate the economy, as argued by Paul Krugman, Brad de Long, Mark Zandi, and others. Note that Zandi is chief economist at Moody's, and people pay good money for his forecasts. Among prominent

Glenn Cassidynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12655704.post-5574618590966706522011-08-29T09:44:00.003-04:002011-08-29T10:38:14.838-04:00

An article in the Washington Post today discusses estimates of the number of birds killed by wind turbines. This article is interesting for putting the bird kill in some context. The article presents estimates from the American Bird Conservancy on the number of birds killed by different human-related causes, with house cats (several hundred million per year) and window glass (100 million per

Glenn Cassidynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12655704.post-18124379270041992482011-07-08T09:57:00.003-04:002011-07-08T10:53:30.387-04:00

If ever I have my own Goth band, I want to call it The Secret Flagellants of Thuringia. Until this morning, I had never thought of connecting the name to CNBC. I made the mistake of watching CNBC with breakfast, waiting for the employment report, which shows job growth alarmingly weak, including a rise in the unemployment rate from 9.1% to 9.2%, and downward revisions to job growth estimates for

Glenn Cassidynoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12655704.post-61318147496602483042011-07-04T12:18:00.002-04:002011-07-04T13:11:53.241-04:00

Tonight all over the USA fireworks will burst (except in towns that have cancelled them to reduce budget deficits caused by the recession.) As the pyrotechnics explode overhead, the oohs and ahs will be accompanied by music that celebrates the defeat of Napoleon by Tsarist Russia and a pop song about the poor treatment of Vietnam Veterans.Of course I'm talking about the 1812 Overture and Born in

Glenn Cassidynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12655704.post-4371918250534197572010-01-25T10:28:00.005-05:002010-01-25T11:10:06.825-05:00

Something I found at Ezra Klein's blog:A note on polling concerning the Senate health reform bill currently sitting in purgatory awaiting the House to vote on it. Nate Silver at 538 looked at poll numbers back in December from the single poll that bothered to ask people opposed to the bill why they were opposed. It turns out a good number who said no when asked if they supported the bill did

Glenn Cassidynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12655704.post-8104516216322972502009-12-28T11:27:00.003-05:002009-12-28T11:44:37.520-05:00

Major protests have been taking place in Iran the past two days. I saw nothing on CNN or MSNBC yesterday, and didn't notice it on the New York Times or Washington Post web sites yesterday, although I didn't hunt because I wasn't aware of it. Andrew Sullivan has been covering it extensively on his blog. The Times has it today. Instead of coverage of a major political change that could be

Glenn Cassidynoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12655704.post-22901601203036263682009-12-28T10:48:00.004-05:002009-12-28T10:54:54.066-05:00

British graffiti artist Banksy comments on global warming denial beside a canal in London:&&

Glenn Cassidynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12655704.post-50618321894204852592009-12-27T22:09:00.004-05:002009-12-27T22:31:33.025-05:00

On international flights headed for the US, passengers must sit with their hands folded on their laps for the last hour of the flight. (That sounds so much like the Catholic school I attended in first and second grade.) Bags away, computers away, no objects on your lap. It seems not even a book or a blanket is allowed. But only for the last hour of the flight? Doesn't that just mean any

Glenn Cassidynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12655704.post-70504312029342765722009-11-24T23:22:00.006-05:002009-11-24T23:37:45.353-05:00

President Obama has directed everyone on the White House staff to read A Milestone in the Health Care Journey by Ronald Brownstein at The Atlantic. The takeaway from the article: the current Senate bill contains a whole lot of good ideas for controlling costs, with a built-in exploratory process for service improvement and cost containment. There are no guarantees that it will work, but it

Glenn Cassidynoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12655704.post-26835781638600796062009-11-24T19:55:00.004-05:002009-11-24T20:39:42.139-05:00

Just in case you might have been thinking not enough has been written about tax reform, Bruce Bartlett has assembled an impressive list (hat tip Ezra Klein). This is to get out ahead of a plan to simplify the US tax system expected to come from the White House next week.This reminds me of an article (fee required) in the New York Times by Russell Baker back in 1985 about complifying the tax code

Glenn Cassidynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12655704.post-38010437733039655052009-11-20T09:37:00.004-05:002009-11-20T09:42:36.327-05:00

Cutting off the nose to spite the face department:Barbara Ann Radnofsky, a Houston lawyer and Democratic candidate for attorney general, says that a 22-word clause in a 2005 constitutional amendment designed to ban gay marriages erroneously endangers the legal status of all marriages in the state.The amendment, approved by the Legislature and overwhelmingly ratified by voters, declares that "

Glenn Cassidynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12655704.post-43619804682105090432009-11-12T11:37:00.000-05:002009-11-12T11:37:36.446-05:00

Evidently there are naturally occurring minerals that absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. These minerals are abundant. There may be enough in the United States, for example, to store 500 years' worth of US carbon dioxide emissions. But the rock absorbs CO2 slowly. It would take thousands of years to absorb an amount needed to have a significant impact on global warming. Trying to

Glenn Cassidynoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12655704.post-12105208432859356852009-11-09T09:37:00.000-05:002009-11-09T11:05:35.677-05:00

The House of Representatives passed the health insurance bill Saturday night, moving near-universal health insurance in the US the farthest it has ever progressed in the 60 years since Truman first tried to enact it. But in order to pass, Speaker Pelosi had to allow a vote on an amendment to the bill that prevents any plan in the "public exchange" from covering expenses for abortions (except in

Glenn Cassidynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12655704.post-89525217327655302182009-10-04T12:25:00.000-04:002009-10-04T13:18:06.043-04:00

A very disturbing article in today's New York Times retraces the path of contaminated ground beef that left a woman paralyzed after a severe E. Coli infection in 2007. Ground beef in a single patty could use material from several different suppliers and could pick up contamination from dozens of places along the way, subject to minimal inspection. The scariest news: many slaughterhouses insist

Glenn Cassidynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12655704.post-82173559044320502362009-09-14T16:31:00.000-04:002009-09-14T16:41:14.335-04:00

You may have noticed that President Obama said more than 30 million people are uninsured in the United States, versus the 46 to 47 million estimate more widely cited. Clearly, 46 million is more than 30 million. Anthony Wright at The New Republic explains why Obama chose the 30 million number.Also, I'm disappointed in the coverage of Congressman Joe Wilson's "You lie" exclamation in the middle

Glenn Cassidynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12655704.post-3415076228183013552009-09-14T15:30:00.001-04:002009-09-14T16:24:34.521-04:00

Here are links to a number of good recent articles about health insurance. Ezra Klein's blog at the Washington Post is an especially good place to follow this issue, both for policy discussions and updates on the political process. Nate Silver has been following the polling on the topic. Mark Thoma on his blog and the writers at Baseline Scenario have good economic analysis on many things,

Glenn Cassidynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12655704.post-57370358875304820502009-08-20T20:37:00.000-04:002009-08-20T21:18:01.839-04:00

The Atlanta Journal Constitution has provided a treasure of a sentence. Here's the second paragraph in "Atlanta officials scramble to avoid losing $30M in federal aid," dated August 18:The idea, floated by Councilman Kwanza Hall, could keep a federal program created to help the city’s poorest residents from expiring Dec. 31 with little impact on communities and heavy spending on administration.

Glenn Cassidynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12655704.post-17394199818833957402009-08-20T18:32:00.000-04:002009-08-20T18:45:21.034-04:00

An interesting article in today's Washington Post about the effect that Twitter might have on attendance at movies. People who see the movie can tweet to dozens or hundreds of friends, possibly amplifying the effect of word of mouth, both positive and negative. The following paragraph caught my attention, especially amid an astro-turf campaign to stop reform of health insurance:"I think Twitter

Glenn Cassidynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12655704.post-48166012136362039142009-06-23T16:00:00.000-04:002009-06-23T16:13:24.009-04:00

Landing on the FBI's terror watch list can prevent you from boarding an airplane, but evidently it does not prevent you from buying a gun. From Huffington Post:There were 963 people from the watch list who were recorded trying to buy guns in the last five years, according to a new Government Accounting Office report. Well over 800 purchases were permitted under the current law. Only 10 percent

Glenn Cassidynoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12655704.post-65061552688475979842009-06-22T09:42:00.000-04:002009-06-22T10:26:49.283-04:00

Paul Krugman has an interesting blog post today on competition in the health insurance industry, citing a post from Digby. The US senators opposing a public option claim that they are trying to protect competition in the market for health insurance. Digby takes Senator Blanche Lincoln to task for defending competition in Arkansas, where Blue Cross/Blue Shield holds 75% of the market, and where a

Glenn Cassidynoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12655704.post-61171927338909299022009-06-14T20:39:00.000-04:002009-06-14T21:07:34.995-04:00

An ever-more-apparently stolen election in Iran, massive public demonstrations, paramilitary violence against protesters, political opposition members in jail. This is the biggest international news development of the year. Where do I go to find news about it? Broadcast networks? They've had all the usual sports, etc. all day. MSNBC? They don't do news anymore, just Democratic apparatchik vs

Glenn Cassidynoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12655704.post-83950410712510616582009-06-11T20:16:00.000-04:002009-06-11T20:35:01.167-04:00

An interesting new blog from Harvey Sapolsky, former director of the Security Studies Program at MIT (and I had a class with him at MIT when I was an undergrad). He suggests the US can stop acting as the world's policeman with little risk to American security. An excerpt from a very insightful post:America should come home, very soon from Europe and Asia and only a bit more slowly from Iraq and

Glenn Cassidynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12655704.post-11150852795992575062009-05-28T19:02:00.000-04:002009-05-28T19:07:59.581-04:00

A terrific article about medical costs in The New Yorker. Well researched and very insightful.&&

Glenn Cassidynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12655704.post-1896199327939455732009-05-25T15:36:00.000-04:002009-05-25T15:41:30.097-04:00

From Talking Points Memo:TPM Reader BB, a "proud citizen of the Netherlands," says it's time the U.S. man up and stop NIMBYing the Gitmo detainees: If you live outside of the US, or the US centric bubble. then the incredible stupidity of the this viewpoint is obvious. Where does the World Court reside? It resides in the Hague in the Netherlands. the Netherlands has a population of 16

Glenn Cassidynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12655704.post-52182470005528170342009-05-24T23:43:00.000-04:002009-05-25T00:32:19.386-04:00

An interesting paper by Lawrence H. Goulder, Mark R. Jacobsen, and Arthur A. van Benthem, "Impacts of State-Level Limits on Greenhouse Gases per Mile In the Presence of National CAFE Standards" comes at the same time that Obama makes a deal with California for a uniform national CAFE standard.The paper by Goulder, Jacobsen, and van Bentham finds that differential CAFE standards between states has

Glenn Cassidynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12655704.post-76777805908779296282009-05-21T20:25:00.000-04:002009-05-21T21:08:28.661-04:00

The US Senate, by a vote of 90-6, declared that they are afraid of holding 240 alleged terrorists in the United States. Even former Secretary of the Navy Jim Webb. Even former POW John McCain, who pledged to close Guantanamo while running for president last year. Even Diane Feinstein, who submitted a bill in 2007 to close Guantanamo within a year, voted to prevent President Obama from closing

Glenn Cassidynoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12655704.post-78140552764339983472009-05-19T10:59:00.000-04:002009-05-19T12:08:01.705-04:00

While watching the local news with breakfast this morning, I wanted to throw my oatmeal at the traffic nerd who twice exclaimed "Walla!" The word is Voila. It's not half a city in Washington or Australia, not a pop musician, and not a misspelling of a Hindi word. It's French, literally see it, idiomatically there it is. If you were to write it quasi-phonetically, it would be vwalla. While

Glenn Cassidynoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12655704.post-77765527737784162732009-04-29T09:39:00.000-04:002009-04-29T12:34:25.912-04:00

The current swine flu outbreak is frequently compared to the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic. An article (that I found via Boing Boing) by Stephen Hume in the Vancouver Sun puts the individual risk of the Spanish flue in perspective:It's estimated that about 28 per cent of Canadians and Americans contracted the Spanish flu. Worldwide, an estimated 2.5 per cent of the sick died of complications, which

Glenn Cassidynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12655704.post-47983225461793606532009-04-04T16:34:00.000-04:002009-04-04T17:04:59.471-04:00

An interesting idea to improve Treasury Secretary Geithner's plan to create a market for toxic asests held by American banks, from an Italian blog by Sandro Brusco. The big problem is that major banks hold lots of mortgage-backed securities of uncertain value. Geithner's plan essentially puts up a big subsidy from the US government to private entities that purchase these assets from the banks.

Glenn Cassidynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12655704.post-22293687038145482172009-03-17T19:45:00.000-04:002009-03-17T19:53:46.395-04:00

Talking Points Memo has assembled a slide show of US Senators and Representatives who voted against the omnibus FY 2009 spending bill because of its earmarks, even after having personally inserted a good number of earmarks for their own districts. I agree that earmarks are in general a bad idea, but they only make up a percentage or two of the total budget. On a scale of government waste that's

Glenn Cassidynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12655704.post-83045235918008606812008-12-10T07:57:00.000-05:002008-12-11T13:19:23.059-05:00

Yesterday's arrest of the Governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, may have surprised people with its timing, but it was widely known that he had been under investigation for several years. Most people I knew when I worked in Illinois expected him to be indicted someday, as several of his top appointees already had been. The scale of corruption in Illinois politics - state and local - is beyond

Glenn Cassidynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12655704.post-87879400541331076632008-09-25T12:51:00.000-04:002008-09-25T22:48:02.216-04:00

Treasury Secretary Paulson's bank bailout proposal has now been subject to public scrutiny for a week. Most analysts agree that the bailout is necessary, but many have questions about the specific proposal.Alan Meltzer, an economist at Carnegie-Mellon, argued against any bailout at all when he appeared on The Newshour this week. If a bailout is necessary, then he suggested mimicking what Chile

Glenn Cassidynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12655704.post-40119246359057830272008-05-15T19:51:00.001-04:002008-05-15T20:27:38.842-04:00

The California Supreme Court today ruled that the state must allow the same marriage rights by the same name to gay couples that the state grants to straight couples. They ruled by the reasoning presented in this very blog, which follows the reasoning of the Massachusetts high court in 2004. One of the precedents cited by the court was California's own version of Loving v. Virginia, the 1947

Glenn Cassidynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12655704.post-50275060594563537112008-05-15T10:49:00.000-04:002008-05-15T11:38:19.580-04:00

Ruth Marcus, in yesterday's Washington Post column discusses Loving v. Virginia in the context of John McCain's recent railings about "unelected judges" ignoring the "will of the people." She takes McCain to task for these statements. She also wonders whether the current court would have reached the same conclusion that was reached in 1967 and wonders how McCain and other critics would have

Glenn Cassidynoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12655704.post-28175323861363599012008-05-12T21:14:00.000-04:002008-05-12T21:26:50.748-04:00

Mildred Loving died May 2 at age 68. She was the part American Indian (how she preferred to identify herself), part black woman married to a white man, Richard Loving, whose case went to the Supreme Court in 1967. In their unanimous decision the court struck down laws that banned interracial marriage in Virginia and at least 16 other states. At the time of their marriage in 1958, at least 22

Glenn Cassidynoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12655704.post-43013631698916830072008-04-16T11:06:00.000-04:002008-04-18T15:59:26.542-04:00

John McCain laid out his economic policies yesterday. He dropped his promise to balance the budget by the end of his first term in office and added a bunch of new tax cuts to his endorsement of making Bush's tax cuts permanent. So much for the fiscal responsibility he advocated when he voted against the Bush tax cuts before he decided to vote for them.He's also developed a gas problem. He

Glenn Cassidynoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12655704.post-30988482866453494472007-09-18T16:07:00.001-04:002007-09-26T20:08:55.167-04:00

I do research in public policy and have taught policy analysis to professional students in a variety of fields. Good policy research should acknowledge any tradeoffs between policy objectives, and discussions of risk usually involve tradeoffs between incremental increases in effort and incremental reductions in risk. It’s a rare case where risk can be eliminated completely. The cost of

Glenn Cassidynoreply@blogger.com1