From Jason Stein and Daniel Bice in the Milwaukee Sentinel Journal:
Gov. Scott Walker’s administration rewarded the new hardline Capitol Police chief and his top deputy with double-digit pay raises earlier this year after moving the pair on paper to phantom jobs for two weeks and then back to their real posts.
Or so claims a recent headline. But that’s not what I actually said, as I try to clarify below.
Each time I post something on the environment, a number of readers admonish me to get back to economics. Well, it’s been obvious to many observers that the two are interlinked. Consider one graph from NOAA, and two others from Economic Benefits of Increasing Electric Grid Resilience to Weather Outages, a joint CEA and DOE report, released on Tuesday.
I’m just back from Japan, where disappointing GDP statistics have reinforced the fact that the economy is still far from full recovery.
From the Daily Herald:
Speaking Tuesday in Arizona, President Obama endorsed the bipartisan efforts of [Senator Bob Corker (R-TN) and Senator Mark Warner (D-VA)] to wind down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as a first step in making certain that the nation does not suffer again through a housing finance crisis.
“For too long, these companies were allowed to make big profits buying mortgages, knowing that if their bets went bad, taxpayers would be left holding the bag,” Obama said in Phoenix. “The good news is that there’s a bipartisan group of Senators working to end Fannie and Freddie as we know them. I support these kinds of efforts.”
Let me explain why I also endorse these recommendations.
Reader John (sometimes Jack), who disapproves of my posts on Wisconsin, politely asks:
Dr Chinn,
Would you be willing to flesh out your background so as to better understand your positions in your research and blog postings?
Where were you born?
Where were your parents born?
Do your parents espouse your same political leanings?
Do you intend to remain in Wisconsin after you retire?
If not, where do you intend to move to?
Today, we’re fortunate to have Alex Nikolsko-Rzhevskyy, Assistant Professor of Economics at Lehigh University, David Papell and Ruxandra Prodan, Professor and Clinical Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Houston, as Guest Contributors.
The Financial Times has published some further discussion on who should be the next Fed Chairman.
Brad DeLong argues for Larry Summers, and
I make the case for Janet Yellen.
…in the minds of the too-busy-to-consult-data, but have time to comment on blogs
For some people this is a tough question; that’s because they’re using the wrong framework