21 | December | 2012

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Appliance shopping: 1959 vs. 2012

Mark J. Perry | December 21, 2012, 9:50 pm

Here’s another post comparing the “time cost” of consumer products from the 1950s to the “time cost” of comparable goods today, as a follow up to the recent, popular CD post “Christmas Shopping: 1958 vs. 2012” (which was tweeted by … read more >

State of Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels takes part in a panel discussion titled "Why Wait for Washington? How States Can Create Jobs and Economic Growth" at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California May 1, 2012. REUTERS/Danny Moloshok

Society and Culture, Education

Governor Mitch Daniels walks the walk at Purdue

Andrew P. Kelly | December 21, 2012, 4:31 pm

The media has not been particularly kind to college presidents of late, and for good reason. While college tuition costs have ballooned faster than almost any other good or service, college president pay has grown, often precipitously. According to data … read more >

Pethokoukis

The Great Decoupling | U.S. productivity, GDP, employment, and income: 1953-2011

James Pethokoukis | December 21, 2012, 2:13 pm

I will soon be posting a podcast I did with Erik Brynjolfsson, director of MIT’s Center for Digital Business at the Sloan School of Management and co-author, along with Andrew McAfee, of Race Against the Machine: How the Digital Revolution is Accelerating Innovation, … read more >

Economics, Pethokoukis

The weird 1945 recession and the absolute Mother of All fiscal cliffs

James Pethokoukis | December 21, 2012, 1:33 pm

Michael Darda of MKM Partners: There has been only one fiscal recession in the last 100 years, and even that one (1945) was accompanied by a monetary slowdown. Moreover, during this so-called recession, unemployment rose from an unsustainable 1% to … read more >

Image credit: Gage Skidmore (Flickr) (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Pethokoukis, Politics and Public Opinion

Is this the compromise that will cost Boehner his speakership?

James Pethokoukis | December 21, 2012, 1:10 pm

Wall Street is skittish and may force a fiscal cliff compromise. Chris Krueger of the Washington Research Group points to the Keep It Simple Stupid option: This is the simplest solution, though Boehner will need A LOT of Democrats to … read more >

Foreign and Defense Policy

Sigh, John Kerry

Danielle Pletka | December 21, 2012, 11:15 am

It’s hard to like John Kerry. Ask the other 99 members of the US Senate. His staff. The American people. But it is a testament to Obama’s other dreadful nominations floated for national security jobs that Kerry suddenly looks…ok. Susan … read more >

Politics and Public Opinion, Polls

Polls on gun control: What you may have missed in this week’s polls

Karlyn Bowman and Andrew Rugg | December 21, 2012, 10:45 am

Several pollsters have updated their questions and asked new ones about gun control in the wake of the shootings in Newtown, Connecticut. Below is a sampling of the responses with some historical context. Mental health screenings: There are very few … read more >

Carpe Diem

Two different Federal Reserve measures of financial stress have fallen this year back to pre-recessionary 2007 levels

Mark J. Perry | December 21, 2012, 10:15 am

The chart above shows two different weekly, statistical measures of financial stress that were updated this week by the Federal Reserve district banks of Chicago (National Financial Conditions Index, red line) and St. Louis (Financial Stress Index, blue line). As … read more >

Image Credit: Robert J. Daveant / Shutterstock

Politics and Public Opinion, Polls

Is America still a center-right country? (Part 3): Public policy versus private morality

Karlyn Bowman and Andrew Rugg | December 21, 2012, 10:10 am

When it comes to questions about morality, is the United States a center-right country? The four issues we examine below show some evidence that Americans differentiate their personal views from their political opinions. On issues such as gay marriage, Americans … read more >