From Wisconsin Idea to Wisconsin …Something

Some implications of current legislative actions for the conduct of University of Wisconsin system research

From The Isthmus today:

The two-sentence amendment to the budget was part of an omnibus motion that was introduced by the Republican co-chairs of the state Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee and passed just before 6 a.m. It reads:

“Prohibit the Board of Regents from permitting the Center for Investigative Journalism to occupy any facilities owned or leased by the Board of Regents. In addition, prohibit UW employees from doing any work related to the Center for Investigative Journalism as part of their duties as a UW employee.”

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Is Social Security running out of money?

On Friday, the trustees for the Social Security and Medicare trust funds released their annual reports. A typical summary in the press is this one from the Los Angeles Times:

The trustees overseeing the finances of Social Security and Medicare issued their latest report on Friday, declaring that a) the Social Security Trust Fund is expected to run out of money in 2035, the same estimate as last year; b) Medicare’s hospital trust fund is expected to run out of money in 2026, a two-year improvement over last year’s estimate; and c) the Disability Insurance Trust Fund is expected to run out of money in 2016, just as projected last year.

Here’s why I don’t believe that’s the correct way to think about these numbers.

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Spurring growth in an era of constraints

From 30 ‘Memos to the Left’ entitled ‘Progressive Governance: The Politics of Growth, Stability and Reform’.

For over four years, the economies of the Euro zone, the UK, US and Japan have been mired in a slow and hesitating recovery from the deepest recession since the Great Depression. In the beginning, policymakers responded aggressively to both the illiquidity and insolvency problems in the financial systems, and the collapse in aggregate demand. …

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