The bipartisan Tax Policy Center reports what serious economists seem to have been saying, Romney's tax plan does not add up. Ronmey's saying it adds up does not make it so.
Useful reading from the New York Times: Romney's tax plan
And here is TPC's original report: The TPC report

Barack, didn't you watch Bill?

One would think Obama would have taken advantage of Bill Clinton's bravura speech at the DNC as a guide for promoting his own candidacy. But no. So where go the mojo? Alas, no pinch hitters in presidential debates.

David Firestone's piece in the NYT characterizes last Wednesday night as a debate without substance. No, The Debate Was Not Substantive Seems to me there was substance. However the substance comprised mostly untruths (e.g. $716 billion Medicare cut) or total amnesia (I never promoted a $5 trillion tax cut). Didn't Romney know there's footage! The fact checkers have exposed a number of Romney's doozies (read: untruths) although the recants don't make headlines like those of his debate "victory". Debate lesson: You can blaze away with made up data because people will remeber the false claim not the retraction.
Presidential Debate Fact Check
Romney's Impossible Tax Promise

A couple of days ago David Brooks wrote a very clear eyed critique of Mitt Romney in the NY Times. Brooks, who normally comes down on the Republican/Conservative side, writes a revealingly titled op-ed piece "Thurston Howell Romney"
Romney's recently exposed video marginalizing large swaths of the American electorate only serves to reinforce his (mis)understanding of "most folks".
Read on Lovey

The RNC was quite a spectacle. Not unexpected was the amount of false and misleading statements, especially from the under cards at the convention. Paul Ryan stands out as having the most swings-and-a-miss with the facts. Santorum and Christie came off the bench and whiffed at accuracy too.

Again, thank you FactCheck.org for taking the time to square what was said and what is. From its home page FactCheck  you can select the batting averages for Romney, Ryan, Santorum ("profoundly misleading" and Christie on the left side. Clint Eastwood's loopy soliloquy doesn't deserve mention.

Untangling some of the spurious political rhetoric

After an extra long hiatus, I saw a piece in the Sunday Aug. 19 NY Times that seems quite useful. It takes recent comments about Medicare from the Romney/Ryan ticket and holds then up to scrutiny. Truth and accuracy are often casualties of politicians' rhetoric and this editorial does a nice job of sorting things out regarding Medicare.
Worthwhile reading: Truth and Lies About Medicare

Much has happened since my last post over a month ago.
Facebook's IPO fizzled, Groupon's downward spiral reaches new depths, Europe's hope that fiscal austerity would foster growth is revealed for the magical thinking it is, real discussion about the abandonment or truncation of the Euro is heard, JP Morgan Chase looses billions on a market hedge ..... quite a spring!

Is there no good news throughout the land?
Yes, at least two.

From the south, Eckerd College minted a tent full of terrific new grads. Some of the grads were in my WHGC as freshmen four years ago and it was nice to see then taking their diplomas. (Eckerd alum, remember WHGC?)

From the north, my niece was a hands-down hit delivering an address at her Harvard graduation ceremonies.(Uncle pride)
Jacqueline Rossi at Harvard

I'll take up the Facebook, Groupon, et.al. news soon.

The latest about Groupon

 As Alice once said, "Curiouser and curiouser!"

Like the Republican presidential candidates who provided endless comedy material so too is Groupon a target-rich topic for financial head shaking.

The latest installment of Groupon's excellent adventure is CEO Andrew Mason's admonition to employees that the company needs to grow up ...... while he was drinking beer.

You can't make this up!
WSJ story

Mitt Romney: Etch a sketch or quantum theory

Pointing out the sorry state of the Republican presidential candidates has become too easy and quite frankly too disheartening. So I largely stopped. However, there was a very clever piece in the NY Time two weeks back by David Javerbaum who finds quantum theory in Mitt Romney's politics. Previously I thought of Romney as akin to tofu; while tofu takes on the flavor of whatever you cook it with, Romney holds the convictions of whomever he's talking to.

Javerbaum offers a much more sophisticated critique. In case you missed it:
A quantum theory of Mitt Romney
Enjoy!

More on Groupon

Following up on my last post about Groupon's restatement of its financials is the SEC following up on Groupon.
SEC probes Groupon
From the WSJ comes this story about the SEC considering whether to investigate Groupon. Could it be just the "growing pains" of a newly public company, a company with negligible governance, or something else?
Continues to be a very interesting story, for all the wrong reasons.

What do Groupon and Charlie Brown have in common?

The curious saga of Groupon takes another step. After exchanges closed Friday Groupon announced “material weakness” in its internal controls leading to greater quarterly losses.
Groupon's shares drop on earning restatement
By now Groupon investors must feel like Charlie Brown after Lucy pulls away the football again. The company seems to be a case study in both finance as well as investor psychology. (Prior posts address past Groupon drama.)

Da Vinci and mathematics

In Keith Devlin's excellent book about Fibonacci titled "The Man of Numbers", a passage describes Pacioli a 15th century mathematician who tutored and collaborated with Leonardo Da Vinci. Pacioli apparently worked extensively on some perfect Platonic solids, the Golden Ratio and other mathematics in nature. Da Vinci in turn uses the math in his art including the Last Supper and Vitruvian Man. Eckerd alum should well remember Vitruvian Man from Western Heritage!

An excellent paper written by Melissa Kimich reviews the mathematics found in Da Vinci's art. An academic paper that is a pleasure to read. Da Vinci's Connection with Mathematics

In honor of the Greek default

Suddenly two months have gone by since my last post.

My new semester has begun. Republican presidential candidates still show little appeal. The American economy is still limping but with a bit better prognosis. Any big changes? Well, Greece. Finally it has defaulted. (Technically the International Swaps and Derivatives Association declared Greece's latest deal with private lenders a "credit event.")

To mark the Greek milestone it seems appropriate to yield the floor to Paul Krugman Greek lessons? who warns against those who make Greece the bogey the U.S. will become if it doesn't cut fiscal spending.

Complexity risk

After the financial meltdown starting in 2008, calls for financial reform began. Dodd-Frank is the most obvious response to the need for better financial regulation. But does Dodd-Frank adequately fix things? Or might it also add additional layers of regulation making conducting business unnecessarily difficult and adding risk. (Related post from Sept 12)

A recent paper by Federal Financial Analytics develops the idea of "Complexity Risk". As the name suggests Dodd -Frank seems to add additional, confusing and sometimes contradictory rules.
Here's the paper: Complexity risk
And if you don't want to read the whole paper here is a column from Joe Nocera of the New York Times who comments Keep it simple

Worth reading.

An ode to economists

Prof. Dani Rodrik of Harvard writes a short insightful dressing down of economics and economists. In the piece Rodrik quotes Greg Mankiw quoting John Maynard Keynes about  economists' search for truth and lack of ideological bias. Really? I've not found that to be true.
Occupy the Classroom

Some thoughts on 2012

If you didn't see the piece in the Dec. 31 NY Times, here is a link to a compendium story of six leading economists' views of what we might see in 2012.  The varying perspectives taken by the contributors is quite interesting.
Six economists's views