Ross Douthat: Mistaking Nuance for Contradiction
I recently finished reading Mara Hvistendahl's excellent book, Unnatural Selection, in which she argues against the devastating consequences of selective abortion of girls in Asia.A review of this book...
View ArticleAnother Left-Wing Populist Wins in a Landslide
This isn't exactly breaking news, but it hasn't been diaried yet that I can see. Over the July 4 weekend, there was a huge victory for democracy, a huge victory for left-wing populism in Southeast...
View ArticleGermany, Not What It Seems
Sometimes to get a handle on who is doing something wrong you need to see how many are doing it.For example, suppose that Jack, Jill, Bill, Belinda, Melinda, Mark, Lark, and Larry are going on a hiking...
View ArticleMass Shootings in 4 States
One.Three people are dead and one critically injured after a shooting late Friday at a motorcycle rally in Mormon Lake in northern Arizona, according to the Coconino County Sheriff's Office. The...
View ArticleThe Debt Ceiling Crime.
The real debt ceiling crime is not that the agreement finally passed by the House contains no revenue raisers, nor that it cuts trillions at a time of recession and double-digit unemployment (let's not...
View ArticleState Revenues Sharply Higher
A new report from the Rockefeller Institute shows that "robust revenue growth" at the state level continued for the fifth consecutive quarter at the start of 2011, following five straight quarters of...
View ArticleTotal Meltdown! Hang Seng Down 7.5%
Selloff is accelerating in Asian markets on top of yesterday's loss. I do not believe this is just about the S&P downgrade any more. This sell-off has taken a complete life of its own.Hang Seng...
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The Scariest Chart You've Seen Yet
Above is a chart of the "yield" on German and French government debt. Much like US Treasury "bonds", "bills", and "notes", the European debt also have specific names. The German bond is called the...
View ArticleMy Economic Plan
My economic plan is simple: have the government print $10 trillion. Then give $10,000 to every household in America.I am quite serious.Yes there will be some inflation as a one-time effect, but the...
View ArticleShould We Just F@#k Everything?
Thinking about the various problems with the economy, and looking at the various ideas that people have, it appears to me that overall, what people want most is the liquidation of the financial system...
View ArticleHow Can We Recover from Obama?
How can we ever recovery from the disaster that is Obama? It is clear now that the Obama Presidency is a mitigated catastrophic failure, but a catastrophic failure nonetheless. A Presidency...
View ArticleContractionism Rules the Day
The sickness that pervades the global economy in the West is contraction-ism--- the moralistic doctrine of take your medicine, pay for your mistakes, suffering is noble. First there is a great agony...
View ArticleShock Doctrine is Destroying Europe
I'll be honest. I never read Naomi Klein's 'Shock Doctrine', and I have been pretty skeptical about her actual sophistication when it comes to the ability to debate economics. I only heard of the...
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Is France about to default?
To the left is a chart of the difference between interest rates charged Germany and France since late 2006. The higher the difference, the more worried investors are France will default, hence they...
View ArticleThe Banking System is not the Enemy
The banking system is not the enemy.Banks play a critical role in our society. Whether big or small, they essentially do the same thing-- financial inter-mediation. That is, they bring together those...
View ArticleDepressed.
I've been pretty depressed by world trends over the past year.First you have the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt which originally were supposed to be about freedom but now seem to be getting taken...
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Obama's Deficits
One of the big Republican talking points in this election will be "debts exploding under Obama". This is grossly misleading. Never mind that Obama inherited a $1.4 trillion deficit from Bush, who put...
View ArticleCommunitarian Themes in the 'Hunger Games' (Spoilers)
"A toast to my big brother George: The richest man in town." So ends It's a Wonderful Life, probably the most well-known film with a communitarian climax, where the lead character George, both finds...
View ArticleIn Defense of Hilary Rosen
The media narrative on the Hilary Rosen / Ann Romney controvery is way out of hand and the outrage is completely manufactured. Politico now asks: "Dem war on Moms?" That is the height of absurdity....
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