The ALEC Rankings: Does Smaller Government Mean Higher Growth?
Demonstrating why Menzie Chinn stated, “The ALEC economic outlook ranking is, in my assessment, a manifestation of faith based economics.”
Read more...Category Archives: Dubious statistics
The GM Labeling Law to End All Labeling Laws
Campaigners for the Orwellianly-named “Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act of 2015” falsely demonize those who want GM labeling as anti-science.
Read more...Greek Debt Sustainability: The Devil is in the Tails
The debate over Greek debt sustainability is muddied by the fact that different analysts use different definitions. But once you use realistic assumptions, as in “tails risks” are actually pretty likely, Greek debt is obviously not “sustainable”.
Read more...Wolf Richter: China’s Hard Landing Suddenly Gets a Lot Rougher
Despite the 7% GDP growth published and hotly defended by the Chinese government, it is increasingly clear that the country is beset with a host of immense problems, after a debt-fueled binge of overbuilding and over-stimulating.
Read more...Bill Black: Republican Candidates Agree that the System is Rigged for the Rich
The Republican candidates for President all made shameless appeals for even more plutocracy, in particular preferential treatment for the rich.
Read more...Greece’s Debt Burden Can and Must be Lightened Within the Euro
A proposal for breaking Greece’s vicious debt cycle.
Read more...Dealing With Mass Killings in America: Funding Our Children, Not Our Wars
As mass killings become more common in the US, law enforcement agents fixate on and unduly publicize cases with jihadist links. As this post describes, that serves as an excuse for even more intensive surveillance.
Yet as Mark Ames described in one of the first works on these rampages, in his book “Going Postal,” there were no obvious similarities among the perps. They weren’t all, or even often, isolated losers. They did not typically come from broken homes. They were generally of above average intelligence. Aside from being disproportionately male, the other common thread was that they had been bullied.
If Ames’ observations still hold true, the lack of distinctive demographic or behavioral predictors of those who go on rampages means that heightened surveillance is at best another form of security theater, and at worst an excuse for Stasi-like dossier-gethering.
Read more...The Ideology of the S&P Threat to Downgrade Brazil to Junk
Why you should look hard at the rationales and motives of ratings agencies like S&P in giving sovereign debt downgrades.
Read more...Lies, Damned Lies, and Greek Statistics
A detailed account of the long and tortured history of budget fakery in Greece and how it is has been aggressively defended by successive Greek governments. A tidbit from the post: one section is labeled “When revising wrong statistics is treason.”
Read more...Wolf Richter: Housing Bubble Means American Dream Withers at Record Pace
Despite the current housing “buying panic,” the soaring prices, and all the hoopla round them, there is a fly in the ointment: overall homeownership is plunging.
Read more...China’s Stock Market Falling Off a Cliff: Why, and Why Care?
What explains the turmoil in Chinese stock markets, and what does it mean for the rest of the world?
Read more...Greece Negotiations Already Starting to Look Wobbly
Silly me! I thought that given that the Greek government had prostrated itself and had complied with the creditor demand to pass legislation double-plus quickly or else, that the worst of the hurdles to getting the third bailout passed had been surmounted.
I should know better than that.
Read more...Sharp Pencils vs. Sharp Politics: The 2015 Social Security Trustees Report
Social Security does face long term demographics issues….as will any approach to making sure retirees have income.
Read more...Dan Davies: Greek Banks Were Bigger Beneficiaries of the 2010 Bailout Than French and German Banks
Even though French and German banks benefitted from the 2010 Greek bailout, Greek banks did even more so.
Read more...Why the Greek Government Rejects a Grexit
Why the Greek government and Greek citizens recognize that a Grexit is a terrible idea for them.
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