Greg Mankiw points out that while Barack Obama’s budget promises to increase the national debt by more than $9 trillion over the next ten years, even that figure relies on rosy growth projections that overstate tax revenues. I’ll refer you to Mankiw for the specific numbers. On the avera...

For those who regard a poke in the ear with a sharp stick as preferable to piped music, the financial problems engulfing the Muzak corporation may be viewed as divine retribution. The company, which gave the world "lift music" and has long filled waiting rooms, supermarkets and airport toilets with ...

The US Senate today narrowly voted in favour of Barack Obama's estimated $838bn spending bill, which will determine how fast the US escapes its worst slump since the 1930s. The bill just scraped over the 60 mark needed in the 100-member Senate. Fifty-eight Democrats were joined by three moderate Rep...

By now, it's clear to everyone that we have inherited an economic crisis as deep and dire as any since the days of the Great Depression. Millions of jobs that Americans relied on just a year ago are gone; millions more of the nest eggs they worked so hard to build have vanished. People everywhere ar...

The world economy is sinking. Tens of thousands of jobs are disappearing in America every day. The US government is pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into its banking system. All of which is leaving Americans shaking their heads — and their fists — at the enormous bonuses paid out to the b...

To: S09 Econ 210a Students From: Brad DeLong Subject: Before the first meeting of the class, please... Date: January 15, 2009 Before the first meeting of Econ 210a, please do the following four tasks: (a) Read the readings for January 21: The Malthusian Economy? (DeLong): Jared Diamond (1987), "The ...

9.50am: The transport minister Geoff Hoon is not due to announce until lunchtime whether the government will approve a third runway at Heathrow, but the media is taking it as a done deal. A new electrified high speed rail line linking Heathrow, London and Birmingham will be included in the package a...

With the curtain closing on 2008, it’s time for me to take out my crystal ball and predict what will happen in 2009. 1- Even with a surge in the polls, due to the Israeli/Hamas conflict, both Ehud Barak and Tzipi Livni will falter badly in the upcoming Israeli elections, paving the way for for...

Britain is preparing for a bleak new year of spending cutbacks, job insecurity and prolonged recession, according to a Guardian/ICM poll published today. It shows consumer confidence has dropped sharply in the last month as the reality of the economic downturn hits home. The poll, carried out just b...

Links: http://www.amazon.com/Economic-Gangsters-Corruption-Violence-Poverty/dp/0691134545 http://www.economicgangsters.com/ Questions and Answers: Brad: Sub-Saharan Africa looks like it has gone significantly backward in real GDP since 1960 while it has gone significantly forward in literacy and (ex...