How is a Greek default different from a Puerto Rican default? Answer: because Puerto Rico doesn't have its own banking system. It can't shut down banks. Banks in Puerto Rico are not loaded up on Puerto Rico debt, so depositors are not in danger if the state government defaults.
The Obama administration’s single achievement in foreign affairs policy is its wholesale retreat from American exceptionalism. We no longer believe in Pax Americana, rather, we spend more time confessing our sins, and less using our strength.
Yevgeniy Primakov, who has died aged 85, was briefly Russia's prime minister under President Boris Yeltsin. Primakov's early career followed a classic Soviet trajectory: a specialist and postgraduate researcher in foreign afffairs, he became a foreign correspondent, a collaborator with the KGB's foreign service, and an Academician.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said something in 2005 that is now commonly footnoted to explain his latest aggressions. Putin was not necessarily lamenting the collapse of Soviet Communism
I was reminiscing today with a friend about jobs we had when we were in high school and college. We had both worked in a kitchen for a big restaurant--he in Philadelphia and I at a resort in Minaki, Ontario where my cottage is.
Will Jerry Brown run for the White House in 2016? It seems not. Will we still be calling him “Mister President” in 2017? That depends on one political activist.
Quietly (which seems appropriate), it’s been a good year for Calvin Coolidge. America’s 30th President is this year’s choice as the White House Historical Association’s annual Christmas ornament.
When explaining why various subsidy programs, tariffs, import quotas, and domestic restrictions on entry into various industries and occupations exist, public choice economists lean heavily on the concentrated benefits/dispersed costs paradigm.
About two weeks ago, I challenged the following brief statement by Arnold Kling: "We can also find this normative analysis among libertarians. Blaming terrorism on blowback for foreign intervention."
The lead editorial in today’s Wall Street Journal praised Europe for finally calling Greece’s bluff, noting that European bond markets have largely shrugged off Greece’s nonpayment of its International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan. Europe appears convinced that a Greek departure from the Euro will be manageable.
Greece faces one of the most difficult decisions in its modern history today as it heads to the ballot box to vote in a referendum few voters truly understand. Regardless of which way the vote goes, the country will be voting on an assuredly painful future.
The "no" vote in Athens shows that Greek voters want other Europeans to continue to pay for their unsustainable high living -- no news there. The more interesting story is that Greeks want to leave the euro by way of a public choice rather than a market shove.
In October 2015, Dreamworks Pictures will release Bridge of Spies, a cinematic thriller based on the life of James Donovan, a lawyer-turned-hostage negotiator whose archive is housed at Hoover Library & Archives. Directed by Steven Spielberg, written by Matt Charman and Joel and Ethan Coen, and starring Tom Hanks, the film tells the story of a Brooklyn-based lawyer who, during the height of the Cold War, undertook the unpopular job of defending suspected Russian spy Rudolf Abel—and then, after Abel was convicted, negotiated the KGB agent’s exchange for an American U2 pilot captured by the USSR.
Nobel Laureate Alvin Roth of Stanford University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about his work on matching markets. Examples include marriage, matching kidney donors to kidney recipients, and students to schools in cities that allow choice in their public school systems.
Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice teamed up with world-renowned violinist Jenny Oaks Baker to perform a stirring, instrumental rendition of “Amazing Grace” in celebration of America’s 239th birthday this weekend.
Many who write about public policy publish collections of their work. When they do, far fewer rate how well they think their past work holds up. But Charles Wolf Jr. does just that in his new book, “Puzzles, Paradoxes, Controversies, and the Global Economy”.
A provocative question is being whispered inside the International Monetary Fund's headquarters in Washington and furiously debated in international economy policy circles.
Graduating seniors recently received the 2015 Firestone Medal for Excellence in Undergraduate Research, the Robert M. Golden Medal for Excellence in Humanities and Creative Arts, and the David M. Kennedy Honors Thesis Prize for their undergraduate capstone projects.
Kori Schake’s critique of Stan McChrystal’s recently released Team of Teams is right on track. Her suggestion that it would have been enlightening for Gen. McChrystal to have compared his experience as the leader of special operations forces in Iraq with his tenure as ISAF commander in Afghanistan raises interesting questions.
ObamaCare's victory at the Supreme Court is putting new pressure on Republican presidential candidates to map out a replacement to the healthcare law — a task that has eluded the party for more than five years.
quoting Bill Whalenvia Capitol Alert (Sacramento Bee)
Sunday, July 5, 2015
Sen. Barbara Boxer and fellow California Democrat George Miller and their spouses used to spend weekends together, just a pair of couples taking a break from the pressures and strains of Capitol Hill.
Is the U.S. economy stuck in an endless loop of sluggish growth and high unemployment? Many distinguished economists think so, and there is some evidence to support them.
