I really screwed up my numbers on the fast food post (now deleted). Like Rogoff and Reinhart, I made a basic Excel mistake, and produced exaggerated nonsense. A doubling of wages would require a 20% price increase, not 67%. (Thanks to Seth Ackerman for pointing this out.) I still have lots of political doubts about this stuff, but I’ll keep quiet for now and do nothing but apologize.

This just in from Jack Rasmus, responding to my response to his critique. This is about to get too meta for me, so after this, and a very brief response, I’m declaring hostilities over. Here it is, without a lick of editing.   In our continuing debate on the significance of the recent revisions to US GDP, Doug Henwood has published on his blog his second reply to my counter to his critique of my original piece.  The following is my second reply to his more rational (less personalized and polemical tone)… Read More

Jack Rasmus has filed this remarkable response to my post yesterday criticizing his criticism of the GDP revisions. I’m posting this unedited (including leaving his Twitter handle, which he’s coded as a hashtag). I’ll respond shortly in the next post. TO Doug Henwood: Here’s my reply to your personalized polemic to my recent article on GDP revisions, which is published on my blog and elsewhere. Jack Rasmus “On Wednesday, July 31, the Bureau of Economic Analysis, undertook a major revision of GDP statistics. The result was a major upward revision of GDP… Read More

Just added to my radio archives: May 23, 2013 David Cay Johnston, columnist for Tax Analysts, on the IRS scandal • Richard Katz, editor of The Oriental Economist Report, on the long Japanese slump and the prospects for Abenomics

Just added to my radio archives (click on the date to get the audio links): May 16, 2013 Barbara Garson, author of Down the Up Escalator, on how people are coping with the Great Recession, its aftermath, and 40 years of general decline (updates to the book here)  

Just posted to my radio archives: April 18, 2013 Minqi Li on the Chinese economy • George Ciccariello-Maher, author of We Created Chavez, on the social movements that allowed for Hugo Chavez’ emergence and he in turn stimulated April 11, 2013 Tom Mills (author of this article) and Richard Seymour (author of this one) on the dreadful Margaret Thatcher A reminder: sometimes I’m slower updating the web page than I am uploading the audio files. If you want quicker access, subscribe to the podcast. Details on the archive page.

Just uploaded to my radio archives: April 4, 2013 Kate Losse, who spent five years at Facebook and wrote about it in The Boy Kings, on Sheryl Sandberg’s “lean-in”corporate feminism (which she reviewed here) • Ahmad Shokr, historian and journalist, on Egypt’s economic troubles

Just uploaded to my radio archives:  March 14, 2013 Özgür Orhangazi, author of this paper, on the economics of Venezuela under Hugo Chávez • George Ciccariello-Maher, author of the imminently forthcoming We Created Chavez, on the politics of Venezuela under Hugo Chávez

I wrote that last post when I was in a hurry to get out the door and pick up my kid. I said employers will “drop” coverage when Obamacare takes effect. I should have said they’ll evade the mandate by paying the penalty rather than the insurance premium. Most victims of this evasion don’t have health insurance now, so “drop” is clearly the wrong word for the set of workers that the FT article reported on. But the original McKinsey survey was about employers who now offer health insurance who are likely to drop coverage… Read More

Just added to my radio archives: December 13, 2012 Jamie Webster of PFC Energy on the U.S. oil boom • Yasmin Nair of Against Equality on Gay Inc. and what’s wrong with same-sex marriage, DADT, and hate crimes legislation

I’m thinking of changing the bit rate for the hi-fi versions of my radio show from 64kbps to 128kbps (mono). It would double the size of the file from about 25 megs to 50 megs. Would this trouble anyone? My iPhone has no trouble with 128kbps on the AT&T network—and of course it’d be a piece of cake on WiFi. I’d still keep the 16kbps lo-fi version for people with slow dialup connections. Thoughts?

Wow, haven’t posted in a few weeks. Sorry! Here’s some new content, just added to my radio archives. I usually post the files well in advance of updating the web page, so if you subscribe to the podcast, you’ll enjoy almost immediate gratification. Podcast instructions are on the archive page. December 6, 2012 Jane McAlevey, author of Raising Expectations (And Raising Hell), on how to revive the U.S. labor movement [The KPFA version of this show was a fundraiser. If you like these shows and want to keep them coming, please consider contributing to KPFA. If you… Read More

Just added to my radio archives: November 8, 2012 Sarah Jaffe on Occupy Sandy • Anne Elizabeth Moore, author of Hip Hop Apsara, on Cambodia No show last week, alas: blown off course by Hurricane Sandy.