There’s a really good chance this post will make no sense whatsoever. You see, it’s Spring in the Sonoran Desert and that means allergy season. If you have never suffered from this affliction then you cannot imagine how fuzzy it makes you feel. If you have then you can empathize. Anyway, the WSJ has a […]
Archive for March 16th, 2009
Let’s Move On
Two signs that we all need to take a deep breath and think about anything other than AIG. First, the local Phoenix drive-time talk show hosts were trying to discuss the issues with AIG. I say trying because they are challenged whent it comes to reviewing the merits of photo radar. To say they were […]
Revisiting Dumping The Payroll Tax For A Carbon Tax
Felix Salmon takes note today of an article in the New Yorker advocating replacing the payroll tax with a carbon tax. If you follow this blog that may remind you of a post I had in December that referred to Greg Mankiw’s suggestion that we follow that course. Here is a link to my post which […]
Europeans Are Happy To Take AIG’s Money
No surprise here. The Europeans aren’t extending any sympathy to the U.S. taxpayer for the money their banks collected from AIG. The Telegraph.co.uk lobbed this little bomblet our way: Some in Washington are already singing the predictable tune: US taxpayers’ money was used to bail out European banks. But the decision to bail out AIG […]
Industrial Production Tumbles Again
Industrial production fell 1.4% in February after declining 1.9% in January. Capacity utilization was down to 70.9, an historical low. It was at 71.9 in January. The numbers aren’t good but again we see in this series as in others a decline in the second derivative or rate of change. Additionally, utility output declined in February […]
As The AIG Fire Burns The Obama Team Retreats
The firestorm over the AIG bonuses is burning brighter than ever. In fact it’s so hot now that the administration is doing an about face. President Obama has ordered Tim Geithner to do everything humanly possible to stop the payment of $165 million to the employees of the financial products sector of the firm. This […]