"no big cycling revolution is going to happen here without there being bold infrastructure changes that "the cycling mayor" would never contemplate.
Even my instructor, undoubtedly a prudent and peaceable road-user, said that at [...]
"no big cycling revolution is going to happen here without there being bold infrastructure changes that "the cycling mayor" would never contemplate.
Even my instructor, undoubtedly a prudent and peaceable road-user, said that at [...]
Sarah Palin:
Sarah Palin Announces Resignation as Governor, Part 1; Sarah Palin Announces Resignation as Governor, Part 2.
"It was four yeses, and one 'hell yes!'"
An enormous amount of bulls--- here.
But this sounded genuine:
In fact, this decision comes after much consideration, and finally polling the most important people [...]
Casey Mulligan diagnosis the situation, taking off from this discussion by Stan Liebowitz.
What do you think? Does this evidence lend more support to the thesis that what the financial situation represents is a credit crunch or a insolvency crisis?
[...]
Loudon Wainwright III performs at Madison Square Park in NYC (June 17, 2009)Last week, I wrote about concerns that Telstra’s Bigpond usage meter was not measuring usage accurately. Similar issues were echoed by David Firth in The Australian who quoted from my experience (I posted my account on Whirlpool with the username ‘EconProf’ — that wasn’t to be anonymous but [...]
Scott Eric Kaufman, last seen in the Washington Post "claiming" to have a Ph.D. in English, tears Brent Bozell into shreds and gobbets, and then eats the gobbets.
SEK:
Sorry. SEK:
And the Award for Missing the Point goes to...: ...Brent Bozell, of the ironically named “Media Research [...]
The investment banks want the Federal Reserve's lender-of-last-resort support without wanting its regulatory oversight. Sorry guys, it doesn't work that way.
Emanuel Derman, via James Wilmott:
Emanuel Derman's Blog: Are you bicestrian? You don't look bicestrian.: "So many riders in the Tour de France have been tossed out because of" [...]
One of the concerns I have long had about international carbon pollution reduction schemes is that they are designed by nice people in the developed world who have never been near a developing country. An article from the Indian “Economic Times” summarises my concerns. The article is here. The problem [...]
In the Sydney Morning Herald today, a call for charges in driving.
In a paper released this morning which the Treasury stresses does not represent its official view, economist Paul Hubbard commends Sydney’s experiment with time-of-day pricing levels for the Harbour Bridge and Tunnel and says it could go further.
Noting [...]
Via Talking Points Memo Sarah Palin:
Full Text Of Palin's Resignation Speech | LiveWire: Hi Alaska, I appreciate speaking directly TO you, the people I serve, as your Governor. People who know me know that besides faith and family, nothing's more important to me than our beloved Alaska. Serving [...]
If you've been paying attention, the Fed likes to release bad news after the markets close on Friday afternoon. The past couple weeks, they've announced the failures of small regional banks.
Well today [referring to a Friday], they announced something just a little bit bigger - the government bailout/takeover of Fannie Mae [...]
The various digital video recording and playback devices around the house have gathered together quite a nice collection of interesting fare for the next rainy weekend — which I absolutely insist will not be this weekend. (Enough of this London on the Hudson crapola!)
• Musical Minds: Oliver Sachs, Nova [...]
Click on graph for larger image in new window.
Given that Kajagoogoo is reforming this year, that is the only possible conclusion from this so far best reaction to the news out of Alaska.The U.S. recently launched a challenge to China with the World Trade Organization, arguing that it is actively subsidizing exports to protect domestic industries. This is more than a bit hypocritical, as the American Entrprise Institute's Philip Levy recently pointed out, when the U.S. is dumping billions of [...]
A commenter recently reminded me that I haven’t explicitly stated a comments policy for this blog. Since I haven’t gotten around to revamping the sidebar, let me simply post my guidelines:
Please aim to keep comments civil, concise and relevant. I have a low tolerance for personal attacks on other commenters [...]From the inbox:
Dear Professor John Whitehead,Sometimes referees make you work [...]
California's fiscal fiasco has taken a new and unwelcome turn. The state is issuing IOUs.
The state's growing budget gap, compounded by political fights and ballot initiative votes, forced it this week to start paying its bills with "registered warrants."
California Controller John Chiang has issued [...]
Tests play an important role in modern medical care. Is my leg broken? Check the X-ray. Do I have HIV? Look at the blood tests.
But when are tests appropriate? In some cases, tests will not alter treatment. For instance, let assume that a person is either healthy or has Disease [...]
U of Calgary's Aidan Hollis delivers the snark:
Twelve members, of whom one is an economist. Presumably the idea is that anyone is an expert in economics. Either that, or economists have not much to add.
![[unemployment+graph.bmp]](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_djgssszshgM/Sk1eP7Y-6TI/AAAAAAAAA-I/BnSWY08iVqM/s1600/unemployment%2Bgraph.bmp)
The right is having a lot of fun commenting about the economic forecast by the Obama team being too optimistic.In "Another comment on Waxman-Markey", Charles Kolstad (co-editor of the AERE journal, Review of Environmental Economics and Policy) concludes:
Although the bill has its shortcomings, at its core it is an impressive piece of legislation. If the senate trims some of the glaring defects, then the U.S. will become the [...]According to USA Today, Facebook is trying to become more like Twitter by changing its privacy controls. It is hoped that the changes will allow Facebook users to share information more quickly and with more people.
Quick thought: I don't think it's necessary that Facebook be the be-all, end-all of' [...]
The Texas legislature closed its special session yesterday sidestepping the issue of extending the state's authority to enter to agreements with private firms to finance, build and modernize transportation infrastructure, which will expire this year. I've written extensively regarding the need to preserve this valuable' [...]
Fascinating story in USA Today on the banking system our neighbors to the North enjoy:
Our northern neighbor sometimes seems so similar to the United States that it’s hard to tell where the USA ends and Canada begins. Here’s one way: Canada is the place with healthy banks, taxpayers unscathed by [...]
~~~
Source:
Goldman Primed to Benefit from AIG’s Woes — Again, William Cohan Says
Yahoo Tech Ticker, Jul 02, 2009 10:28am EDT
Aaron Task
http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/article/273168/Goldman-Primed-to-Benefit-from-AIG%27s-Woes—-Again-William-Cohan-Says
Do I belong in an insane asylum? Or should I be on the FOMC (with Hall, Thompson and Svensson?) Damned if I know. This blog is either grossly overrated or grossly underrated, but it ain’t average.
[...]Jon Taplin’s blog highlights how financial mismanagement has wiped out almost all productivity gains from the digital revolution.
InventorSpot’s list of brilliant Ikea ads.
Gregory McNamee writes a cultural autopsy of Michael Jackson.
Mashable on how to use Wikis for business projects.
In its announcement of the broadband stimulus rules Wednesday, the U.S. government has defined broadband as 768 kilobits per second (kb/s) downstream, 200 kb/s upstream, signaling that any company applying for federal stimulus funds only has to meet the broadband standards of 1995.
By comparison, most cable modems [...]
In email, lurkers are questioning my claim that:
Forecasting the Obama Economy: ...what happened to the Mankiw CEA over the winter of 2003-2004, when high politics appears to have reached down into the forecast, changed the table for payroll employment (and only payroll employment: the rest of the [...]
Per Forbes, the markets are betting that there's a 1-in-4 chance that California will default on its debt payments in the next five years:
What are the odds that California defaults on its debt payments? Using the market for credit insurance as a guide, one in four within five years. [...]
The other day I was at a business luncheon and the woman across from me was texting like a fiend. Her thumbs were a blur. I was grateful. Her bad behavior made me feel better about my own. Because who hasn’t checked an email under a table, [...]
Our friends over at the Nevada Policy Research Institute are ruffling some firefighter union feathers in that state by daring to suggest that taxpayers may be being held hostage by fat and bloated contracts and union demands for ever-increasing pay. Per the Las Vegas Sun (emphasis mine):
There's no question [...]After yesterday saw unemployment tick up t0 9.5% (and U6 hit 16.5%!) I thought it might be a good time to do a little compare and contrast: Let’s compare job losses during this recession against prior recessions:
This is a different way to look at the ob loss situation: This chart [...]
In which Barry Ritholtz encounters the unreliable Stan Liebowitz saying very strange and very false things about the mortgage market:
Zero Down Is a Foreclosure Factor: There is a kind of weird OpEd in today’s WSJ by Stan Liebowitz. The professor makes the incredible discovery that zero down payments, [...]
Paul Krugman wonders:
Secrets of the WSJ: This morning’s Wall Street Journal opinion section contains a lot of what one expects to see. There’s an opinion piece making a big fuss over the fake scandal at the EPA. There’s an editorial claiming that the latest job figures prove the [...]
One of the only things I dislike about my Casio Exilim EX-Z75 7.2MP is the puny 3X optical zoom.
So it was no surprise when this NYT article caught my attention:
“There are currently two types of ultrazoom cameras: the full size and the compact. The [...]
Hat tip: Krugman.
I cannot figure out why you PR people keep sending me PDFs of articles, but then don’t post it online. Do you want the publicity or not?
If yes, than a) post it on your site; b) THEN send out the email.
Its kinda hard to link to meatspace items on a [...]
And Lindsay Beyerstein has quotes:
Washington Post's pay-to-play flyer : Spirited? Yes. Confrontational? No. The relaxed setting in the home of Katharine Weymouth assures it. What is guaranteed is a collegial evening, with Obama administration officials, Congress members, business leaders, advocacy leaders and other select minds typically on the [...]
John Hewson writes in an Op-Ed in the AFR today that he has observed over a long period of time that a particular petrol station raises it prices by between 15 and 25 cents on Thursday mornings. He deduces that this is a simple case of “gouging customers”. I have [...]
Back in the middle of this decade, building anything seemed like a good idea. With the housing boom in full bloom, developers had the imagination, lenders had the construction money, and buyers had swarms of mortgage lenders panting to lend them the entire purchase price of anything their hearts [...]
This is why:
Michelle Goldberg on Sarah Palin:
Is She a Narcissist?: On Thursday, CBS News had a small scoop.... After McCain’s chief strategist, Steve Schmidt, rejected a request by Palin to reply to a report that her husband, Todd, had been a member of the secessionist Alaska Independence Party, [...]
Keynesianism presupposes an economy whose members do not see through the changes brought about by monetary or fiscal manipulation -- or, as some might say, the swindle. Above all, it presupposes that people are blinded by the idea that the value of money is stable -- by the "money" [...]
Tom Woods has made an invaluable contribution with his latest book. If the Austrian account of our current plight is correct, what should we do now? Woods offers a simple answer that is essential for the public to understand. The government should do nothing. Malinvestments have occurred and must [...]
By popular request ...The government made a deal with taxpayers’ money. Washington agreed to lend large financial institutions billions of dollars in exchange for shares of their preferred stock. Not only were these institutions to pay back their loans in full, but they are under agreement to pay a dividend on the government’s [...]
Would you trust a guy named Bobwho told you to “take control of your futur in a nation…which has been created by you and I?” Sometimes the ability to be articulate really counts. But don’t let that dissuade you. If you like grammatically challenged guys named Bob, [...]
A conversation with Paul Krugman of The New York Times and 2008 Nobel Prize Winner, Economics
~~~
[...]Fascinating discussion via Nomura strategist Sean Darby on a new investment theme:
Investors are overlooking the domestic growth opportunities of Muslim-dominated
countries situated along the ancient Spice Route. We estimate that between 2020F
and 2025F, approximately one in every five births will be in countries whose ports
were visited by merchants [...]
Whew, health care will only cost $611 billion! That's the line in Washington right now. An estimate from the CBO on the draft legislation from the Senate health committee is $1 trillion less than its estimate of a previous draft version. Of course the massive cut has the effect [...]
There is a kind of weird OpEd in today’s WSJ by Stan Liebowitz. The professor makes the incredible discovery that zero down payments, 100% LTV financings tend to slide in great numbers into foreclosure:
“What is really behind the mushrooming rate of mortgage foreclosures since 2007? The evidence from a huge [...]
Back in the 1990s, I can remember being asked by a state government agency to comment on their proposal for ‘revenue regulation’ of a state utility. For the reasons stated below I told them it was stupid.
A few years later my colleague at RSSS at the time, Rohan Pitchford, was [...]
Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke's first term is nearing expiration, and many are wondering if he will be reappointed by Pres. Barack Obama to a second term. Some think that his willingness to shore up the financial services sector with hundreds of billions of federal dollars and guarantees might [...]
Are the financial markets in denial about how soon the recovery will come and how impressive it will be? Mohamed El-Erian, for one, thinks so, and he points to the unemployment rate as a key reason why things are not going to get noticeably better any time soon:
The unemployment [...]
After several of you complained, the Kindle price, for Create Your Own Economy, has been lowered to $14.27, from $20 something. Maybe someone at Amazon reads the comments at MR (really, I had nothing to do with it).
What other prices would you like changed? Health insurance -- how [...]
Writing in today's Wall Street Journal, economist Stan Liebowitz reports the results of his careful study of the data on mortgage foreclosures. Liebowitz finds that the chief reason homeowners default is negative equity in their homes (and, hence, not upward adjustments in the interest rates owed on ARM mortgage [...]
The Georgia Public Policy Foundation's Friday Facts, point out a new report from the Mercatus Center at George Mason University entitled Freedom in 50 States: An Index of Personal and Economic Freedom. The authors of the report, William Ruger (currently serving in Afganistan) and Jason Sorens present "...the'" [...]
Well that's annoying. I just wrote a very long blog entry about Brad Setser's wonderful multimedia extravaganza over at CFR.org — click here and then click on “Chapter III: Motion Charts”. And then when I tried to post it, it disappeared entirely. So here's the short version: all four [...]
Given economic bad times, many teams have overspent. But they have lots of long-term contracts, plus there is a salary cap and luxury tax for going above that cap. Real wages ought to fall but most of them cannot fall right away. If a player becomes a free agent, few [...]
Find out just how BIG an idiot I really am:
The U.S. House of Representatives voted on June 26, 2009 to pass the American Clean Energy and Security Act, commonly known as the Waxman-Markey Bill. While, as of this posting, it has yet to pass the Senate, the bill promises an [...]
Adverse selection is an easy story to tell but a hard story to verify. In fact, empirical studies indicate that adverse selection is not an important (equilibrium) effect in the market for used cars, or used trucks, or of auto, life insurance or health insurance. See my earlier post, Adverse [...]
Russia has entered a natural gas venture with Nigeria with the name 
