DWD released August employment figures today. Attainment of Governor Walker’s 250,000 net new private sector jobs continues to be unlikely.
Further Deterioration in Wisconsin Structural Budget Surplus
From October 2013: “The Obamacare implosion is worse than you think”
That’s a title from an oped by former GW Bush speechwriter and current AEI scholar Marc Thiessen nearly a year ago. We can now evaluate whether in fact the implementation of individual insurance mandate component of the ACA did implode. From “New Data Show Early Progress in Expanding Coverage, with More Gains to Come,” White House blog today:
The Stupidest Paragraph in Perhaps the Stupidest Article Ever Published
Bruce Bartlett brought my attention to this article, which Mark Thoma mused was “The Stupidest Article Ever Published”. From The Inflation Debt Scam, by Paul Craig Roberts, Dave Kranzler and John Williams:
Pessimism about U.S. growth rates
A growing number of observers are starting to conclude that we’re never going to see the rebound in growth rates that many people had anticipated as the U.S. recovers from the Great Recession. Here I comment on a new paper in which Northwestern Professor Robert Gordon explains the basis for his pessimism.
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Forecasted North Sea Oil Production
How much can an independent Scotland rely upon? updated 9/16
“Facts are Stupid Things”
As Ronald Reagan once said (although he did mean to say “stubborn”)
The Evaporation of the Wisconsin Budget Surplus
A rapid collapse in the Wisconsin fiscal prospects (but pretty predictable, as long as one doesn’t believe in supply side miracles).
Optimal Currency Area Theory and Scottish Independence
Ronald MacDonald (Glasgow) concludes that a currency union will not work for Scotland. From The Guardian:
Reading Macro Data: Growth Rates, Annual Rates, Data Breaks
Newcomers to macro often encounter problems in interpreting and using data. The first is how to report growth rates, particularly when trying to assess the current state of the economy. The second is how to read data reported at annual vs. quarterly vs. monthly rates. The third is accounting for the presence of breaks in data collection. (This post primarily for students in Econ 435 and Public Affairs 854.)