Three good economic eats--

Lots in the news these days about the economy, where's it headed, and who has a plan to lead it to future prosperity. I'll point out a few good reads in recent days:

- I thought Roger Lowenstein's piece in the Sunday New York Times ("The Education of Ben Bernanke") was excellent. Lowenstein gives a brief history of the Fed and explains in clear terms just how exactly the Fed uses money supply and interest rates to steer the economy. The article also offers mixed commentary on Bernanke and his leadership style - more democratic than Greenspan, but perhaps too much so.

- Also in the Sunday New York Times, Austan Goolsbee, Senator Obama's economic campaign advisor, takes a new look at old supply side economics. He explores recent arguments advanced by some GOP presidential candidates that taxpayers whose rates declined the most under Presidents Reagan and GW Bush reported the biggest increases in income in the following years. Ergo, tax cuts on the wealthy lead to --> more income --> more investment or spending --> more economic growth --> more government revenue. So tax cuts pay for themselves. Well, not really, says Goolsbee. According to his take on the data, income rose not because of tax cuts, but because of larger market forces. In fact, incomes rose in the years after taxes were raised. For more details, take a look at his piece.

- Yet another piece in the New York Times is worth a read. David Leonhardt, who is doing some great reporting on the Dem presidential candidates' economic policies, focuses today on how Senator Clinton would approach the economy as president. She sees the government as an "economic prod" and advocates a "balance between an effective, vigorous government and a dynamic, appropriately regulated market." As such, in her interview with Leonhardt, Sen. Clinton offers an economic plan with three main components:

She would roll back the Bush tax cuts for households with incomes over $250,000 while creating more tax breaks below that threshold; impose closer scrutiny on financial markets, including the investments being made by foreign governments in the United States; and raise spending on job-creating projects like the development of alternative energy.

Enjoy!