Family Values for 2008
The U.S. government needs to do more for American parents. (See Kristin Bateman's post on a new article by Eric Nguyen examining parents in bankruptcy.) But it's not just Europhile liberals who are saying this anymore. Although, in recent years,...more »
Posted on July 1, 2008 8:54 PM
SEIU's Grover Norquist Strategy
According to the NY Times, it appears that the Service Employees International Union is developing a strategy to hold Democrats accountable to pro-working-class policies once in office: "In a move likely to upset some Democrats, the delegates approved an "accountability...more »
Posted on June 7, 2008 9:13 AM
A Huge (and Unfair) Tax Bill on Top of Foreclosure
A story in this morning's New York Times shows another consequence of the foreclosure crisis: a huge tax bill for those losing their homes. When a home is foreclosed on borrowers whose mortgage exceeds their home value, the difference is...more »
Posted on May 30, 2008 6:42 AM
Eli Lilly Edits Disclosure Bill
Senators Grassley and Kohl have introduced legislation that would require disclosure of all gifts from pharmaceutical companies to doctors over $500. That sounds like good news, except, according to this report, Grassley's staff worked closely with Eli Lilly to re-write...more »
Posted on May 14, 2008 12:33 PM
Tier 4
The fastest growing segment of private health insurance is called "Tier 4." Under this system, co-payments for drugs vary with how expensive they are. Expensive drugs are classified "Tier 4" (some plans even have a "Tier 5"), and the co-payments...more »
Posted on April 25, 2008 2:07 PM
Credit Card University
The New York Times yesterday examined the challenges middle- and upper-middle-class families now face as they try to pay for college with less home equity. Only home-owners, of course, can benefit from home-equity loans, so what makes this story sad...more »
Posted on April 21, 2008 7:36 AM
A French Education
The BBC reports that at least 19,000 teachers and students have protested in Paris, along with more protesters in other cities, in response to a proposal to cut funding for schools and lay off teachers. The contrast with the...more »
Posted on April 12, 2008 4:06 PM
Bake Sales in Massachusetts
It's school budget time in Massachusetts (and elsewhere), which means it's time to lay off teachers, increase class sizes, and cut funding for everything from basic supplies (i.e., make teachers pay more out of their own paltry salaries) to "extras"...more »
Posted on April 10, 2008 2:02 PM
Hurting Consumers and the Economy
James Surowiecki, in this week’s New Yorker, recalls the 2005 bankruptcy bill and how it privileged credit-card companies over both consumers and the economy. Credit-card companies were hugely profitable in the decade before 2004, but they wanted more, and Congress—with...more »
Posted on April 4, 2008 2:04 PM
W's third term (and the end of an era)
It appears that John McCain really is running for George W. Bush’s third term. In a nice column in Slate, Daniel Gross outlines how, for McCain, “[t]he problem with the last eight years isn't that the Bush administration had...more »
Posted on April 1, 2008 8:55 PM
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I should clarify my point. It's that cancellation should be treated as investment loss, since that what it is--the house lost value not because of use but because of decline in value. The "punishment" for investment loss is the loss, not a tax bill for tens of thousands of dollars. This also involves unsophisticated, middle-class borrowers trying to profit from what has turned out to be a bubble. My argument is only that the treatment is unfair and inconsistent. (Compare their treatment by the government to that of major investment banks.)
Thanks also for the corrections--I appreciate it. My apologies.Posted at May 30, 2008 8:56 AM in response to A Huge (and Unfair) Tax Bill on Top of Foreclosure
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Dr. Baker,
What do you make of Marcia Angell's arguments from "The Truth About the Drug Companies" (essay version here http://www.nybooks.com/articles/17244) that the R&D justification is a myth because 1- it's a small part of their budget and way lower than profits; 2- many of the companies are actually foreign; and 3- universities do a lot of the innovating on public money and then license the patents?
And my apologies for how I presented the Freakonomics thing--the article was on how to decrease driving (so they discuss tax measures along with PAYD) and they acknowledge that the idea for PAYD is at least 15 years old (and not their own).Posted at April 27, 2008 11:03 AM in response to Tier 4
