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Noted for March 15, 2013

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  • Bruce D. Meyer and Wallace K.C. Mok: Disability, Earnings, Income and Consumption: "Using longitudinal data for 1968-2009 for male household heads… [we] study current compensation for the disabled…. [A] person reaching age 50 has a 36 percent chance of having been disabled at least temporarily once during his working years, and a 9 percent chance that he has begun a chronic and severe disability…. Ten years after disability onset, a person with a chronic and severe disability on average experiences a 79 percent decline in earnings, a 35 percent decline in after-tax income, a 24 percent decline in food and housing consumption and a 22 percent decline in food consumption…. [T]ime use and detailed consumption data further indicate that disability is associated with a decline in well-being."

John Maynard Keynes (1926): The end of laissez-faire | David Cay Johnston: On Ryan budget plan, Wonkblog shines |

  • Ryan Grim and Jason Cherkis: How Bill Clinton Inspired The 47 Percent Filmmaker: "The man, who tended bar for a company that catered to a high-end clientele, had previously worked at a fundraiser at a home where Clinton spoke. After Clinton addressed guests, the man recalled, the former president came back to the kitchen and thanked the staff, the waiters, the bartenders, the busboys, and everyone else involved in putting the event together. He shook hands, took photos, signed autographs, and praised the meal -- all characteristic of the former president. When the bartender learned he would be working at Romney's fundraiser, his first thought was to bring his camera, in case he had a chance to get a photo with the presidential candidate. Romney, of course, did not speak to any of the staff, bussers or waiters…"

  • Dylan Matthew: Washington hates deficits. Why it hates them is less clear.: "'Financial repression' is a loaded term, but the fact remains that real interest rates in the United States are very low…. Does that mean that we don’t have to worry about the debt-to-GDP ratio growing out of control? Probably…. [W]hen real interest rates are negative, as they were from 1945 to 1980 and have been since the late 1990s, the debt-to-GDP ratio will continue to rise as long as there’s a deficit, but it will approach a limit…. If Galbraith is right that negative real interest rates are the natural state of things in the United States — and with the exception of the 1980s, history seems to bear him out on that — then we don’t have to worry about ever-rising debt-to-GDP ratios…. U.S. policymakers have a choice, if they want to avoid high interest rates. They can force interest rates low through Fed policy or financial regulations, as Japan has done and as the U.S. did for much of the last century. Or they can reduce the deficit. And the evidence that the former will work is arguably stronger."

  • Belushi’s manager on Woodward’s biography: "Wired is so wrong 'it made you think Nixon might be innocent'."

  • Jonathan Bernstein: Punch line of the day: "Humor, from the House Budget Committee chairman, about the Affordable Care Act: 'Under those circumstances, Ryan argues, repeal is not out of the question. “I don’t want to say we’re going to enjoy going around the country saying ‘I told you so,’ but we’re going to have to say ‘I told you so, and here’s a better way,’” he says.' That’s right: Rep. Paul Ryan is still expecting Republicans to get credit for the 'replace' part of 'repeal and replace'. Even though it’s been well more than two years since they trotted out that slogan and even though they never even managed to put together any kind of framework or anything at all for the 'replace' part of it. Even though Republicans in the 112th Congress never even bothered to hold hearings to generate ideas for a 'replace' bill. Even though most House Republicans have even given up, near as I can tell, on even pretending that they’ll ever have any real intention of 'replace'. Even though there wasn’t even a hint of any 'replace' plan in the Romney-Ryan campaign. And even though Ryan certainly doesn’t include anything about 'replace' in his budget. But, sure, that Republican alternative will just materialize any second now, and we should all act as though they have one. Right."

  • Vivek Wadhwa: Our future will be brighter than you think - but more disruptive: "Peter Diamandis tells the story of how aluminum went from a rare metal to something we wrap our food in…. It isn’t just aluminum… electrical power, refrigeration, television, telephones, cars, and air conditioning…. This prosperity has not reached most of the developing world—yet. But the proliferation of mobile phones shows what is possible. Within 10 years, their numbers have gone from zero to nearly 1 billion in both India and China…. Two exciting solutions to the water problem are already working and ready to scale…. Despite all the negative press about solar, the price of solar panels (per watt) was 97.2 percent lower in 2012 than in 1975—and the downward trend is continuing…. When we have unlimited clean water and unlimited renewable energy, we can produce unlimited amounts of food…. Discovery, application, and invention are also occurring in medicine, 3D printing, artificial intelligence, robotics, and many other fields."

  • Marco Buti and Nicolas Carnot: The debate on fiscal policy in Europe: beyond the austerity myth - European Commission: "Several criticisms of the current fiscal strategy in the EU have recently been forcefully expressed. In this brief, we examine these criticisms, and provide some clarifications and responses. We recall that large adjustments are needed in most economies to restore sustaina-ble fiscal positions, not because of the arbitrary will of the markets or of EU institutions."

  • John Herman: Google Reader Still Sends Far More Traffic Than Google+: "The beloved but doomed Google Reader is still a healthy source of traffic. Google+, on the other hand… According to data from the BuzzFeed network, a set of tracked partner sites that collectively have over 300 million users, Google Reader is still a significant source of traffic for news — and a much larger one than Google+."

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On March 14, 2013:

March 14, 2013 at 22:22 in #weblogging | | Comments (4)

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