How Good Was the Post-WW II era?

Craig excerpts an interesting article below that reminds us that there was once a time when the median wage tracked productivity- or, as I like to think, a time when people were paid what they earned.

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Myerson on Circuit City Layoffs

Harold Myerson comments in today's Washington Post about Circuit City's recent payroll reduction program:

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Robert Samuelson Is A Self-Righteous Fool

In an ongoing effort to define what exactly is so terrible about Robert Samuelson, fiscal policy columnist for Newsweek and the Washington Post, I present his latest "fun" column on the exploding behemoth of a entitlement crisis disaster. Mr. Samuelson now strikes a righteous, enlightened pose, and yet again fails to understand what is at issue. St. Samuelson speaks of vitueless baby boomers whose retirement may cost more money:

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More on the Demise of Supply-Side Econ

To follow up Dana's post about the NYT's obit for supply-side economics, I want point you to a couple of related posts. First, Kevin Drum @ Washington Monthly: I got to wondering if serious supply-siders got tired of having their entire school of thought made into a laughingstock by today's endless parade of yahoos blathering mindlessly about how tax cuts always and everywhere magically increase revenue. Surely they find such childishness embarrassing?

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CBO's Monthly Budget Update

The CBO has released April's Monthly Budget Review. The short version: Revenues are higher this March than they were a year ago, thanks mostly to rising income and payroll taxes. The summary paragraph from the report: The federal government recorded a deficit of $257 billion for the first six months of fiscal year 2007, CBO estimates, $46 billion less than the shortfall incurred during the same period in 2006. Revenues have risen by 8 percent in the first half of the year, whereas outlays have grown by about 3 percent.

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The Magic of the Health Care Market

A just-released study found that a widely implemented, expensive technology to improve mammograms has been a resounding failure. The Chicago Tribune: The study is the latest development in the debate over the usefulness of screening mammograms, which are recommended for all women over 40. Regular mammography has been shown to reduce breast cancer deaths, especially in women older than 50. But the test is imperfect -- it misses up to 20 percent of cancers and often catches things that are not cancer, requiring worrisome and expensive follow-up.

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Exorbitant Executive Pay AfFORDable...

...health care for workers, not so much. Reporting on Ford Motor Co's latest SEC filing, the Wall Street Journal informs us ($): [Ford's] top seven executives received compensation valued at more than $62 million in 2006, even as the 104-year-old auto maker posted a record $12.6 billion net loss for the year. ... [CEO Alan ] Mulally received a $666,667 salary, an $18.5 million bonus, options awards valued at $8.68 million, and other compensation for items such as use of a corporate aircraft and relocation costs.

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SCHIP Outreach Being Curtailed

State Medicaid administrators have been telling state children's health insurance programs (SCHIP) to back off outreach efforts, Inside CMS ($) reports today. The crux of the issue is that when SCHIP programs do outreach, they tend to find and sign up children and adults not only for SCHIP, but for Medicaid, as well.

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Relative Revenue Realism: State vs. Federal Indicators

We've remarked before on what appear to be overly optimistic revenue growth rate projections by the President and Congress. Both President Bush's proposed FY 2008 budget (which assumes extension of the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts) and in the House and Senate budget resolutions (which do not) project 5-7 percent annual revenue growth through 2012. A column in last week's New York Times points out that federal revenue jumped 12.7 percent in 2005 and 11.8 percent in 2006. But it adds a cautionary note about future receipts:

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Newsflash: Media Biased (Against Government Spending)

The Cato Institute and the Heritage Foundation ought to be happy. The coverage of the House budget resolution more or less includes their talking points about how "spending is the problem" with the federal budget. What's more, these ideas are not attributed; they're just presented as facts that the reporters decided, for an unnamed reason, to add to these stories. THe New York Times:

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