Tuesday items: Reynolds rebuts Summers; Calhoun on deflation; Domitrovic on the President.

From Cato, Alan Reynolds responds to Larry Summers’ call for more government spending.

At Alhambra Partners, Joe Calhoun sees the dollar bouncing back and forth between inflation and deflation. For the record, here’s my column of last year on Robert Mundell’s similar view.

On Forbes, Brian Domitrovic critiques the President for doing nothing that would improve the economy.

The Daily Caller interviews Steve Forbes on Mitt Romney’s record at Bain Capital:

At RCM, John Tamny suggests fear of QE3, not bad unemployment numbers, is responsible for the market’s decline.

From The Atlas Sound Money Project, Devin Roundtree argues QE3 is already underway.

At Forbes, Charles Kadlec critiques the President’s economic policies.

In The WSJ, Robert Barro analyzes the economy’s malaise.

From The Washington Times, Richard Rahn covers efforts to impose global taxes.

In The WSJ, Roger Lowenstein reviews a book on the depression of 1837.

Thursday round up: Woodhill on austerity and Keynesianism; Barro on austerity; Benko on President Ford.

At Forbes, Louis Woodhill skewers the false debate between austerity and Keynesianism.

In The WSJ, Robert Barro explains that austerity hasn’t failed in Germany and Sweden.

A video from Save Our Savers mocks the the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee.



At TGSN, Ralph Benko remembers President Ford’s failed efforts to whip inflation.

In The WSJ, Stephen Moore reports US Rep. Paul Ryan’s (WI) effort to prevent defense spending cuts.

In The Washington Post, George Will treads (lightly) into supply-side territory with a critique of Obamacare’s tax hike.

From the comedy archive, Parks & Recreation’s Ron Swanson explains taxes (h/t: Jonah Goldberg):



In The WSJ, Arthur Herman urges President Obama to follow FDR’s embrace of industry during WW II.

Monday items: Gold passes $1,700; Goldman cites the popping of the hedge fund bubble; Kudlow counsels calm.

Reuters reports gold passing $1,700/oz.

On Asia Times, Spengler (David Goldman) suggests the market selloff is linked to the popping of the hedge fund bubble.

At NRO, Larry Kudlow counsels calm amidst the market collapse.

On The Kudlow Report, Larry Kudlow interviews Harvard conservative Keynesian Greg Mankiw and former Fed official William Poole about Ben Bernanke’s next steps:



The Washington Post reports weak dollar Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner won’t leave his post anytime soon.

At The Freeman, Jeb Bleckly and Joshua C. Hall refute former-Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s (NY) claim that higher marginal tax rates have no effect on economic growth.

NRO features a symposium on unemployment, but only two of 13 contributors mention the dollar.

In The WSJ, Harvard’s Robert Barro recommends four good reforms and a fifth bad one (a VAT on top of income taxes.) His analysis omits a stable dollar:

First, make structural reforms to the main entitlement programs, starting with increases in ages of eligibility and a shift to an economically appropriate indexing formula. Second, lower the structure of marginal tax rates in the individual income tax. Third, in the spirit of Reagan's 1986 tax reform, pay for the rate cuts by gradually phasing out the main tax-expenditure items, including preferences for home-mortgage interest, state and local income taxes, and employee fringe benefits—not to mention eliminating ethanol subsidies. Fourth, permanently eliminate corporate and estate taxes, levies that are inefficient and raise little money.

Fifth, introduce a broad-based expenditure tax, such as a value-added tax (VAT), with a rate around 10%.

In Time, Amy Sullivan suggests austerity economics may fracture the GOP coalition with Christian conservatives.

From The Witherspoon Institute, Carson Holloway argues the Balanced Budget Amendment violates conservative principles.

Monday round up.

From the Freeman, Gerald P. O’Driscoll, Jr. summarizes the Fed’s impact on world inflation levels.

In The WSJ, Robert Barro suggests unions are bad for economic growth.

On The Kudlow Report, Stephen Moore debates Mark Zandi on the economic impact of spending cuts:



At The NY Times, Christina Romer explains the Keynesian case for more aggressive quantitative easing, an advantage of which, she says, would be a lower dollar.

From Bloomberg, Caroline Baum asks Fed Chairman Bernanke a few questions.

On David Letterman, U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (KY) defends tax cuts and lower spending.



The Daily Caller reports a poll that suggests voters would blame Democrats for a government shutdown.

On his blog, conservative Keynesian John Taylor disputes Goldman Sachs’s economic analysis.

Monday update.

In the Cato Journal, Jude Shelton calls for a new global institution to promote currency stability.

On RCM, Louis Woodhill critiques CBO's Keynesian economic model.

At Commentary, Jennifer Rubin advocates revival of the GOP’s pro-growth wing.

But modern conservatism’s success, both in policy and electorally, did not come from being the green-eye-shade party. It stemmed from an enthusiasm and celebration of free markets and from policies that sought to unleash the potential of individuals, investors, and employers. And it was Reagan whose embrace of supply-side economics, free trade, and modest regulation unleashed an economic boom — and launched a conservative political vision that was inclusive and successful.

At Asia Times, David Goldman supports an export-led recovery.

In Forbes, John Tamny sees high government pay weakening the private sector.

At Business Insider, Gregory White explains that debt-to-revenue is more important than debt-to-GDP.

In The WSJ, Harvard's Robert Barro argues unemployment benefits contribute to high unemployment.

U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan (WI) focuses on fiscal deficits in assessing the weak economy.

Keynesian Robert Samuelson diagnoses the demand-side of the economic malaise.

Bloomberg’s Caroline Baum defends Milton Friedman's monetarism.

The WSJ reports on Japan's effort to weaken its currency:

AEI’s Kevin Hassett says Gov. Chris Christie (NJ) is popular because he has cut spending and refused to raise taxes.

Regarding the

10-Year Treasury rate

chart from yesterday's NYT, a longer-term chart makes clear today's rates are close to their pre-Great Inflation level. Also note the lag: rates stayed high well into the 1980s even though gold and CPI had fallen to low-inflation levels.