Running through some articles I came across this in the NY Times. Lawmakers drafting the auto bailout bill are expected to require that the Big Three automakers, as a condition to getting government loans, drop their legal opposition to efforts by California and 15 other states to reduce greenhouse gases, according to an official of the […]

There is apparently a deal in the works to help out the Detroit portion of the U.S. auto industry. It reportedly involves removing the strings on a $25 billion facility that was originally intended to fund the development of more enviornmentally friendly cars. It’s too bad that we’re ending up with a political “split the […]

Once upon a time, not too long ago, policymakers of every stripe were literally dislocating their shoulders patting themselves on the back for having tamed the beasts that afflict economies from time to time. The phenomenon knows as the Great Moderation was thought to have become the new economic paradigm promising a world of near […]

Economist Bruce Bartlett has a fine article in Forbes that examines the policy errors during the Depression and draws some conclusions about what needs to be done this time. The beauty of the piece is that Bartlett takes a complex subject and masterfully writes about it in easy to understand terms. Every day that goes […]

I should have published this link some time ago. It’s to Ben Bernanke’s 2002 speech outlining the proper-in his opinion-government response to deflation. As I have mentioned, some observers have concluded that when the central bank’s policy rate falls to zero–its practical minimum–monetary policy loses its ability to further stimulate aggregate demand and the economy. […]