Historians and laypeople will argue about the causes and effects of the great financial debacle of 2007-2010 for decades, just as they continue to debate the Great Depression. Looking back, people will ask “What if the Fed had intervened to…
Voters–and politicians–need to forget pledges
At the Minnesota budget summit a week ago, Martin Sabo made a profound assertion: ‘There should be one pledge, and that is not to make pledges.’ He meant that legislators and congressional representatives need the flexibility to agree on solutions…
Social Security’s “payback” better than many think
The current hot debate about proposed changes in health care financing has sparked concern for many about how such changes will affect Medicare benefits. Also looming in the background: the unresolved question of how Social Security might be changed to…
The “paradox of thrift” will hurt now–but help later
Pay off $500 of your Visa bill and you may put someone out of work for a week. That is the downside of the Federal Reserve’s announcement this week that U.S. households paid down their consumer debt by $21.6 billion…