Update 491 — Treasury Nominee YellenWould Face Vast, Daunting Policy issues Yesterday, President-elect Biden announced plans to nominate former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, 74, for Secretary of the Treasury. Yellen is phenomenally well-qualified for the position, especially given the economic conditions she will confront. Admired and trusted by commentators, progressives, and moderates, Yellen has …
Update 490 — Another Budget Battle?Over What? And How Can the Fed Help? With days dwindling until the December 11 deadline for a budget deal needed to avert a government shutdown, Congress is negotiating yet another Continuing Resolution, which will alter federal spending priorities not at all as economic conditions continue to worsen. What’s the …
Update 489 – A Barber on the Board:Get Ready; Less Steady Fed Ahead? After months of inaction on Trump’s nomination of Judy Shelton to the Board of the Fed, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is rushing this one with days ticking down before Senator-elect Mark Kelly can be sworn in. Shelton’s nomination as a national …
Update 488 – Cong. Lame-Duck a Turkey?“Must-Pass” Items Will; Relief, Not So Fast This Friday the 13th comes as coronavirus cases in the U.S. top 140,000 a day, three times a month ago, and the unemployment rate remains twice as high as it was in February. As we head into a lame-duck session of Congress, …
Update 487 — Biden Policy Possibilities Following Fraud-Free but Fraught Election The 2020 election is over, likely to reach the highest voter participation rate since the election of 1900. Over 160 million Americans got to the voting booth, or the mailbox, to cast their ballots. Fears of violence proved as founded as those of the voter …
Update 486 – Countdown to the Count:What We Know, with 100 Hours to Go In a little less than 100 hours, an election that has felt like the longest in our history will finally come to an end. More than 85 million people have already cast their votes, and more will in the days to …
Update 485 – Amid COVID Relief Failure,The Premise and Promise of Repurposing Now that the election is underway and the hopes for Corona relief are vanishing and COVID cases are spiking, the return on inaction is now reflected in the full retreat of capital markets and a dead-cat bounce, in Wall Street parlance, expected in …
Update 484 • Democracy Survives DebateJust Voting, Counting, and Litigating Left Last night, President Trump and Vice President Biden faced off for the final time. Polls showed Biden winning by 53-39, a margin closely tracking his lead in election polls. But if the debate is viewed as a draw for Biden, then Trump, out of …
Update 483: Plans for InfrastructureAfter Years of Trump’s Inept Disrupture Tomorrow night, President Donald Trump and Vice President Joe Biden face off in the last presidential debate of 2020. If you were tempted to press mute during the first debate, someone will do that for you tomorrow. It’s one last chance for Trump to explain …
Update 482 – ACB Stands For…Activist Conservative on the Bench Observers of this week’s hearings in Senate Judiciary on the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett could not have missed the raging tax law question confronting the Court. Economic policy hides on the Court’s docket but that’s the ACA’s constitutionality on the line …
