As everyone knows,* student loans are the sole reason today’s college graduates are unable to enter adulthood. This ginormous debt burden forces grads to decamp their college digs for their parents’ basements. We are told by our media betters that … Continue reading →
By fellow French intellectual Guy Sorman at City Journal: As a source of knowledge, [Thomas Piketty’s] Capital in the Twenty-First Century is formidable; as an ideological pamphlet, it breaks no new ground. The book marshals new data to rekindle old … Continue reading →
What’s going on here? You’re watching Chicago get eaten by the rich and the poor. Confucius, Œc. Vol.Don’t ask impertinent questions like that jackass Adept Lu. 3.14.242.153
Continue reading →Sen. Warren topless for this iconic corporate image. Marketers hid her exposed breasts behind a butter carton after more than 10,000 Americans suffered hysterical blindness in the initial rollout. So-called “income inequality” has had the Left’s collective panties in a wad … Continue reading →
There may not be any such thing as a welfare queen but welfare may be far too generous to achieve its desired end: returning people to the world of work so they can buy fabulous cars like Czar’s, pictured. ‘Puter … Continue reading →
Surely by now you have been treated to the unassailable wisdom of Jesse A. Myerson, Super Genius. Mr. Myerson shared his keen economic insights with Americans on the pages of that renowned financial publication, Rolling Stonein an article titled simply … Continue reading →
Jesus reads the Washington Post religiously and is not amused with E.J. Dionne citing Him as authority for every hare-brained liberal scheme on the planet, especially those that harm – not help – the poor. Ah, E.J. Dionne. Is there a better object lesson in … Continue reading →
GorT forecasts that 2014 will be a banner year for the liberal idiot. They will be coming out of the woodwork will all sorts of crazy for a few reasons: deflect from or defend the botched PP-ACA rollout (now with … Continue reading →
This is one half of the Democrats’ brain trustthat came up with the punishing, poorlythought through legislation known as Dodd-Frank. Two thoughts: (1) what makes Democrats think this guy thinks about anything other than where his next meal’s coming from and (2) Barneythe … Continue reading →
GorT sometimes attends protests Maybe liberals and democrats are focusing on “living wage” arguments so the following doesn’t get much press: A recent CNN poll shows almost 70% of the country believes the economy is generally in poor shape and … Continue reading →
Public sector union members thoughtfully and politely discuss the possible reduction of their pension benefits with the taxpayers footing the outsized and ever-growing bill. Detroit’s public sector unions are squealing like stuck Irish pigs about their pensions being treated as just another unsecured … Continue reading →
The Holy Father is welcome to join Drs. J. and. Laffer at NACC for Thanksgiving Dinner. We’ll talk macroeconomics. Friend of the Gormogons, Anthropocon writes a fantastic blog piece on Pope Francis’s recent writings. It is definitely worth a good … Continue reading →
Nothing says “treat us with dignity and respect we deserve” more than dressing up and behaving in accordance with the worst stereotypes about us. Also, these two are playing a game of “hide the sugar beet.” Can you find it? ‘Puter’s … Continue reading →
As the resident physician, scientist and dabbler in economics, Dr. J. was most amused by this joke matrix: Yo mama so fat, Ben Kenobi said, “That’s no moon, that’s yo mama!” Dr. J.
Continue reading →Other than Obama having found and unleashed a Hypnotoad in the White House Press Briefing Room, what’s a plausible explanation for otherwise sane, sentient reporters buying Obama’s unending stream of lies, slander and other horse manure? ‘Puter said he might provide … Continue reading →
‘Puter’s been reading Greg Sargent, a confessed liberal, who writes for the Washington Post’s opinion pages. Mr. Sargent is exercised about Republicans holding up a debt limit increase This morning, Mr. Sargent writes: It remains to be seen whether major … Continue reading →
In 10th Grade, Dr. J. was tapped for Team Jack by his peers. We still live in the greatest country on Earth. That being said, the progressive movement has for a century believed that they are smarter than the rest … Continue reading →
Mika has a sad because income inequality. Unfortunately,Mika doesn’t understand that despite her willful ignoranceof basic economic truths, pretending economic truths do notexist does not, in fact, cause those truths to cease existing. ‘Puter’s been watching Morning Joe again, which is … Continue reading →
Operative Javahead writes: Some supporting evidence for your position – My older daughter is in her final year of pharmacy school (going for her Pharm. D. at Loma Linda). As an undergrad she’d originally planned to apply for medical school, … Continue reading →
Ah, pediatrics, Dr. J.’s worst grade in medical school… Just as Dr. J. sent off his missive earlier today, his Medical Economics weekly email showed up in his inbox. He, of course, clicked on this lead article. The headline states … Continue reading →
Mrs. Dr. J. and the Lil Resident mind-map operational work flow together… Dr. J. was trolling teh interwebz for something to talk about other than the President’s feckless Syria speech, a speech he couldn’t even tune into because the sound … Continue reading →
Maybe if Detroit made cars as awesomeas ‘Puter’s 1972 Dodge Dart Swingeragain, they’d have remained solvent. ‘Puter just got around to reading the New York Times Sunday edition, including Nobel laureate Joseph E. Stiglitz’ piece on Detroit’s bankruptcy. Mr. Stiglitz … Continue reading →
Sir Isaac Newton is not amused with Democrats’willful ignorance of cause and effect. Ah, Democrats. In times of complexity, unease and upheaval like these, ‘Puter finds himself admiring their simplicity of mind. If ignorance is bliss, the vast majority of … Continue reading →
A Progressive’s Rendition of a Republican You know how you hear that the Democrats are the ‘Party of the Little Guy’? Republicans are ‘John Q. Monocle’ sporting a top hat and a pipe as they pay sub-minimum wage to children … Continue reading →
You’ve got to accentuate the positiveeliminate the negativeLatch on to the affirmativeBut don’t mess with mister inbetween Apologies to Sam Cooke but I think our dear readers will agree that it is an appropriate title once you get to the … Continue reading →
Even Monocle Guy gets into the act! Given the amount of misunderestimated inflation going on in our economy with increasing energy costs and the devaluation of the dollar through quantitative easing, the COINS act has been proposed as a way … Continue reading →
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)learned all she needed to know abouteconomic theory selling tax-free boozeand cigarettes on The Rez.Sen. Warren also claims to have watchedaghast as Gen. Whitside slaughtered herpeople at Wounded Knee Creek in 1890. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It’s your … Continue reading →
‘Puter participates in “Toss a Mental Dwarfinto the Manticore Enclosure” Night downat the Leaping Peacock. Pictured, ‘Puter preparing to huck E.J. Dionne. Off camera,Czar wiping the schmaltz off his hands aftersimilarly treating Katrina vanden Heuvel. With apologies to a handful … Continue reading →
Dr. J. caught this on his morning trawl through teh interwebz and found this fun piece on io9: This is a political map of Pangea using modern nation borders. Dr.J. not only finds the idea of beachfront property in Tibet tantalizing … Continue reading →
The New York Times ran an interesting article today on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s draftsof new consumer mortgage rules. Well, the article interested ‘Puter, anyway. Mostly because the article proved ‘Puter’s longstanding position correct. You see, CFPB’s new regulations … Continue reading →
These came up while the Czar was washing blood off his hands in the men’s room. First up is JAB, who pops up from the Doublewide to tell an awesome story: Dear Mr. Mandarin and Your Czarness: Reading your “Literal … Continue reading →
Remember all the blame that was placed on Wall Street and the nefarious banks who preyed on people with low credit scores for the economic collapse that we have been struggling to overcome? Maybe some of you even remember the … Continue reading →
In other good news, China is massing troops and having air and naval craft patrol their border with North Korea. One Chinese restaurant owner (one wonders what’s on the menu there) in a nearby border town expressed amazement over the … Continue reading →
Part of the game’s weird charm are the clunky-looking graphics. But the game isn’t intended to dazzle you, but to provide a powerful learning environment. Царевич has developed a crazy affinity for the game Minecraft. If you don’t know what … Continue reading →
It’s A TRAP! Dr. J. has spoken before about President Obama being emboldened after his narrow election victory. He got his Republican sanctioned tax-hike without spending cuts and he is looking to continue with his Progressive agenda, by hook or … Continue reading →
We’ve seen a number of charts and graphs that describe the recovery – how slow it is growing, its impacts, etc. I’m a big fan of interesting visualizations of data (insert gratuitous plug for Edward Tufte’s books and seminars here … Continue reading →
Elizabeth Warren was originally slatedto head the CFPB. This is the best picture‘Puter could find of her. It’s stunning how closely Sen. Warren resembles her ancestorChief Wahoo, noble mascot of MLB’s totallynot racist Cleveland Indians. Unless you’re in the financial … Continue reading →
Modern social welfare programs and states are failing like a coddled, sheltered Millennial entering Marine Corps boot camp. Like RGIII’s knee in this past weekend’s playoff game. Like liberal Congressman balancing a budget. Like Czar and ‘Puter’s willpower on All You … Continue reading →
GorT, Sr. passed on an email that I’m going to dissect into a post here. Recently, Facebook posts, media “news” stories, and commentary pieces are largely trying to blame the Republicans for the mess we’re in today. Either by ways … Continue reading →
In America’s real life version of the Roadrunner cartoons, we’re all Wile E. Coyote. But Congress is thesuper-genius that devises solutions basedsolely on the Acme line of products despiteits certain knowledge it’ll doom us all. Puter’s back after a well-deserved Christmas … Continue reading →
Happy Boxing Day, gentle readers…Your Gormogons took the day off yesterday to spend with our families. Nevertheless we wish you all a Merry Christmas. The Czar was celebrating with his extended family, and by celebrating, Dr. J. means impaling serfs … Continue reading →
Somewhere in one of the dusty conference rooms at Castle Gormogon, the Mandarin and the Czar met to discuss higher education. Of the great many things discussed, we concluded that higher education as we know it could be on considerably … Continue reading →
Sigh. How to begin? Does the general public not see what is going on with the “fiscal cliff” and the various posturing going on? The GOP has acknowledged that they are open for negotiations that would include additional tax-based revenue*. … Continue reading →
Let’s review a bit of history. Does anyone in the media recall what gave rise to the fiscal cliff? Anyone? Anyone at all? Apparently not. To be fair, ‘Puter shouldn’t judge the Washington press corps for its faulty recollection of … Continue reading →
While I know it isn’t pretty, people should take a long, hard look at California and begin wondering what our future holds. Let me summarize a few data points: The Proposition 30 tax hike (to the tune of $6B) passed … Continue reading →
Hostess announced plans to shut down this week. They are facing a workers strike which their CEO has determined they can’t weather over a prolonged period. The plans include laying off most of their 18,500 strong workforce after a Thursday … Continue reading →
Dr. J mentions, in reference to companies moving employees to part-time statuses to ease their insurance costs, as something foreseen and he, nor any other Gormogon, was surprised to see it happen. It is disheartening, which is one of the … Continue reading →
So many things I think aboutWhen I look far awayThings I know, things I wonderThings I’d like to sayThe more we think we know aboutThe greater the unknownWe suspend our disbeliefAnd we are not alone… Apologies to Rush for the … Continue reading →
Sometimes it is not good to be the Czar. For example, he is helping his sainted mother translate some paperwork from her father, and needless to say, penmanship was pretty bad in that century. One can hardly tell a ѣ … Continue reading →
During the debate, President Obama crowed that he did not raise taxes on 97% of small business owners. Mitt Romney explained to him, to the Presidents obvious discomfort, that the 3% who suffered the tax hike actually are responsible for … Continue reading →
Operative DT writes in: Oh Hirsute One, I apologize for my infrequent updates. The myrmidons are coming along well, though your suggested airborn/air assault/ballet cross-training has them a bit perplexed. Thankfully they’re only allowed to think on Tuesdays between 21:00 … Continue reading →
‘Puter lifted this police file photo of Czarsleeping off last year’s Christmas Partymystery punch. Moral of the story: Never let Sleestak bartend. He has a heavy pour. No, ‘Puter didn’t just regain consciousness after 2011’s yeti-themed New Year’s Eve Gala … Continue reading →
Thomas Sowell is a favorite of a number of the Gormogons and GorT came across this online interview with the columnist and author. He discusses his essay, “‘Trickle Down Theory’ and ‘Tax Cuts for the Rich’”. While I’d love to … Continue reading →
Remember a couple of days ago when the Czar was really annoyed with the Main Stream Media, and how this was the beginning of the end? One of us, probably Volgi (because he often forgets to sign his tweets), tweeted … Continue reading →
Actual flyer as seen in the White House break room, detailingPresident Obama’s double secret plan to balance the budget:assume all Americans are as bad at math as he is. ‘Puter was making his daily round of blogs he enjoys. Over … Continue reading →
The Obama Administration is either stupid or ignorant and I’ll leave it up to our esteemed readers to make that choice for themselves. Case in point: Jennifer Rubin pens this piece over in the Washington Post Blog section today. Quote: … Continue reading →
Over the next couple of months (and beyond that, if we’re lucky), we will be hearing a lot about the Paul Ryan plan. Formally known as the Path to Prosperity, the plan is intended to correct the certain-death spending of … Continue reading →
Never trust the guy who says, “I will be Chancellor…” Dr. J. has yet to discuss the Obamacare decision because he was out of town, but more on that later. He wanted the opportunity to read Chief Justice Robert’s decision … Continue reading →
You can’t vote yourself rich, despite what the public sector unions tell you. Nor is any government provided benefit “free,” despite taxpayer funded ads such as these, intended to drum up demand for “free health care” for your kids. New … Continue reading →
Three musings. Well, it looks like the not-adolescent party won the Greek elections, and some serious reforms are coming along to save Greece, Europe, and even partly American economy, right? Not so fast: there are strong indications that the Left … Continue reading →
Paul Krugman is widely revered by the Left as an economic genius without rival. If Dr. Krugman utters the word, it is treated as gospel truth. In his New York Times column today, Dr. Krugman is plainly testing his believers’ … Continue reading →
SC: “I’ll take ‘The Rapists’ for $400, ‘Puter.” GP: “Uh, Mr. Connery? That’s ‘Public Sector Unions,’ but I can see how you’dmake that mistake.” “I’ll take Obamanomics for $200, ‘Puter.” This is how the nightmare always starts, seemingly innocent enough. … Continue reading →
Mr. Dionne shows off his home office’s“far talking thinger” and “computerizer,” two things conservatives are toostupid to understand. ‘Puter highly recommends the Democrats follow E.J. Dionne’s incandescently brilliant plan to retake the House and hold the presidency and the Senate … Continue reading →
Over at National Review Online, Ramesh Ponnuru discusses tomorrow’s vote to repeal Obamacare’s 2.3% tax increase on medical devices. Dr. J. loves medical devices, be they pacemakers, implantable defibrillators, PFO/ASD/VSD closure devices, stents, or ventricular assist devices. Dr. J. hopes … Continue reading →
Paul Krugman clearly appears over the deep end. What should be done about the economy? Republicans claim to have the answer: slash spending and cut taxes. What they hope voters won’t notice is that that’s precisely the policy we’ve been … Continue reading →
I came across this OpEd in the NYT this morning by David Brooks and it illustrates the current economic problems we’re facing pretty well. Brooks allocates two sides to the economic debate. The first he refers to as the cyclicalists … Continue reading →
Paul Krugman deigns to share his Nobel laureate economic wisdom with us intellectual peons in today’s New York Times. And thank goodness Mr. Krugman shared his truthiness with ‘Puter, because ‘Puter never would’ve been able to figure out the correct answer on … Continue reading →
When GorT doesn’t do his job – ok, wait, that doesn’t happen – but if I didn’t, I’d get fired. When the Senate Democrats fail to do their job for over 1,000 days – closing in one THREE YEARS – … Continue reading →
The United States currently faces a gap of 11 million person-jobs to recover to an employment level that existed before this recession. That isn’t simply the number of jobs lost. This number represents the number of jobs lost as well … Continue reading →
…or do you feel the same? Who knew that the Rev. Bono of U2 was so prescient when he wrote the song, “One“. Many liberal friends are pointing at the Dow as a sign of an economic recovery. It’s usually … Continue reading →
The U.K. instituted a type of “Buffett rule” last year: The new rate will affect the 300,000 highest earners in the UK, out of the 29 million people who pay income tax. It will be levied on taxable incomes greater … Continue reading →
Remember 1000 years ago when the Czar took on the task of reading the entire draft ObamaCare bill? He didn’t receive nearly as much email on that as he is on this subject of film tax subsidies. Amazed and MC … Continue reading →
‘Puter’s no economist, thank goodness. It’s not called the dismal science for nothing, and ‘Puter has enough dismal-ness to deal with in the maw of Upstate’s wintery, dead gray. And, to be fair to real science, economics like many other … Continue reading →
Amazed writes in: re: Your post of 1/29/12 about seeing Real Steel. Answer: You’re welcome. My share of the $18.3 million dollar subsidy the gazillionaire producers got in taxpayer money for filming Real Steel for 2 weeks in my old … Continue reading →
Hey, a couple of weeks ago, did you see this poll going around that shows how much Americans hate the rich? Huffington Post writes “Most Americans Think Income Inequality Is A Big Problem,” according to a poll conducted by The … Continue reading →
If the Occupy crowd and the Demo-Libs who deny the disaster of their government model have taught us anything, it’s that schools need to start returning back to teaching economics. If they ever did—home economics always seemed more about cooking … Continue reading →
As regular readers know, ‘Puter is a high-functioning simpleton, but one with Cassandra-like powers of prognostication. Also, like Cassandra, ‘Puter is cruelly fated to never be believed. Let’s review a few of ‘Puter’s most recent economic prognostications: 1. The failure … Continue reading →
Here’s our politicians’ dirty little secret. Washington knows what’s wrong with the economy, and they know how to fix it. “Great! Then why won’t Washington fix it, ‘Puter?,” you reply. It’s a good question, with a simply answer: the fix … Continue reading →
DOWN GOES FRAZIER! DOWN GOES FRAZIER! Confucius, Œc. Vol.Don’t ask impertinent questions like that jackass Adept Lu. 3.14.242.153
Continue reading →It’s sometimes a hard pill to swallow when someone as insightful and innovative in the business community pops the balloon of hope for Mr. Hope and Change. In the pending authorized biography of Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson, Jobs was … Continue reading →
With the 10th anniversary of the War in Afghanistan upon us, you have already started to see a lot of media hand-wringing introspection on whether the war was worth it, whether we should remain in Afghanistan, and what the historical … Continue reading →
In a recent survey of iOS game developers, the top 20 percent of iOS game developers in terms of lifetime revenue are earning approximately 97 percent of all the game revenue made on the Apple App Store. The top 1 … Continue reading →
We are each familiar with Martin Niemoller’s famous quote (even though he likely never said those actual words), so there’s no need to reprint it here. Niemoller’s quote came to ‘Puter’s feeble mind as he mulled over the Democrats’ latest … Continue reading →
GorT’s liberal friends and family members are likewise propagating the tripe that Dr. Warren spewed and that my esteemed collegue, ‘Puter, so eloquently dissected here yesterday. And it is complete garbage. At face value it is, at best, a call … Continue reading →
This steaming pile of horseshit quote from Elizabeth Warren has been making the rounds among ‘Puter’s liberal friends. The crappy link to MoveOn won’t allow a cut and paste, so ‘Puter will type it for you here: There is nobody … Continue reading →
The President says we have to raise taxes on the smart and successful because, he says, it’s all there in the math. Since you brought it up, Mr. President, we would very much like to see your math. Ours says … Continue reading →
Recently there has been a lot of hay made about Obama’s stimulus, Keynesian economics, space aliens, etc. but there is an underlying problem that needs addressing. This problem is the misconceptions between income, as a benefit of employment, and wealth. … Continue reading →
GorT has written about taxes, Keynesian economics, and the current economic situation before but I’m always impressed when I read pieces that add a new dimension to it. This is the case with the brilliant piece by Victor Hanson here. … Continue reading →
These guys are about as good as Wile E. Coyote catching the Road Runner: utter failure while believing the whole time that they are super-geniuses. The early word from the People’s Republic of California is that the so-called “Amazon tax” … Continue reading →
Paul Krugman is off his rocker…or meds…or smoking something. He was on a Sunday talk show where he actually said essentially that we need space aliens threatening to attack in order to save our economy. First, the conversation began with the … Continue reading →
There is a graph making its way around the intrawebs from a NY Times article penned by a Ms. Teresa Tritch on July 23, 2011 entitled, “How the Deficit Got This Big” (go Google it yourself, I’m not citing it … Continue reading →
First, regarding Mr. Immelt’s proposal that companies should stop whining about government and just start hiring – keep in mind that GE has shed about 10% of its workforce in the last two years (roughly 37,000 out from a base … Continue reading →
The Gormogons are plugged in and we like sharing what we hear and hopefully provide a little education with it. Item the first: former President Bill Clinton came out earlier this week and stated: “Why aren’t we talking more about … Continue reading →
‘Puter learned something reading E.J. Dionne’s latest opinion piece in today’s Washington Post. Surprisingly, that something is actually useful. Mr. Dionne claims Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) is losing the MediCare reform debate because Americans understand that Mr. Ryan’s proposal will … Continue reading →
The New York Times editorial board strikes another blow for market ignorance today in this editorial. Its premise is that in order to save the housing market, we have to destroy it. Sadly, this is an all too common attitude … Continue reading →
GD writes in with a couple more arguments and reminders about Corporate Tax Rates (including GorT’s favorite). Sorry: sometimes we assume that you all know this, but GD is right to add this in for our many first-time readers: Dread, … Continue reading →
Un film de Econ Stories. Someone needs to tell my boy Fred to keep his finger off the trigger. Confucius, Œc. Vol.Don’t ask impertinent questions like that jackass Adept Lu. 3.14.242.153
Continue reading →Czar mentions in his post below that Standard & Poor’s has downgraded its outlook on United Staes debt from stable to negative. Essentially, S&P acknowledged what everyone knows: if America doesn’t get its fiscal act together pretty soon, its debt … Continue reading →
Amidst all the public union foofaraw in Wisconsin and elsewhere, we hear the same mantra over and over. Teachers are underpaid relative to the private sector. ‘Puter always responds the same way. How do we really know what a teacher … Continue reading →
