Rethinking the Economy

How much does a home cost? There’s the cost of the place itself, and then there’s the cost of getting around. Knowing in your gut that a “cheaper” place way, way, way out in the burbs will mean a lot more driving is one thing. Putting a price tag on that cost is another.
Luckily, [...]

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(photo by qbubbles)
This weekend, I went down to DC’s National Mall to pick up my folks, who were in town visiting and enjoying our wonderful free museums. On the way back, we got stuck in my favorite kind of DC traffic jam: a seemingly endless stream of folks, decked out in American flags, union [...]

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It’s been a long, long time since our country try to make homeownership more affordable for most folks. The last real effort was back in the 30s and 40s, when the FHA & VA mortgages and other subsidies many possible for millions of white middle-class Americans to buy a home. In the last decade, prices [...]

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I’m talking with someone at Demos about some questions I have about Topos’ framework, so I’m going to hold off any more posts in the series and go back to wrestling with my own framework. The latest: after reading Promoting Broad Prosperity, having a really helpful conversation with a friend, and banging my [...]

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[Part 3 of the Promoting Broad Prosperity review]
The other thing I like about Topos’ Promoting Broad Prosperity framework is that they tested their ideas with opinion research. You’d think by 2009 this wouldn’t be a novel concept. If big corporations spend lots of time testing the best way to convince you to eat [...]

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[Part 2 of the Promoting Broad Prosperity review]
Topos’ Promoting Broad Prosperity framework avoids a major problem with my approach. For the past few months, I’ve been focused on understanding how the nuts and bolts of the economy’s engine works. I think I’ve started to figure it out. But I haven’t yet figured out [...]

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Unlike many other countries, Canada is coming out of the global financial meltdown in pretty good shape. One reason why: the rules of their financial game. Business Week explains:
Canadian banks did not fail because they mostly avoided the big mistakes with mortgages. They didn’t lend to people who couldn’t prove a [...]

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A few months ago, I read a smart research brief Topos wrote for Demos called Promoting Broad Prosperity. Topos has done a ton of surveys, focus groups, etc. to figure out how most Americans think about the government’s role in creating a good economy. They’ve come up with a very interesting approach [...]

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Two interesting clips from Rachel Maddow’s show last week on talking about government.
From an attack ad by Republican Sue Lowden, who’s trying to unseat Harry Reid:
Harry Reid‘s big government health care plan will raise taxes, put a bureaucrat between you and your doctor, weaken Medicare, kill jobs, push us further into debt. [...]

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This is pretty mind-blowing.
In 2008, the American National Election Study asked folks if Uncle Sam spent too much, too little, or about right in 12 areas.
The
results:
the respondents who identified themselves as “conservative” or “extremely conservative” had little appetite for specific spending cuts.
Very few conservatives said they favored reducing (or cutting [...]

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