tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66487682012-01-27T10:23:16.540-06:00Negative Outlook?anything to help advance the causePeterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.comBlogger14151100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-89555537400868968232012-01-27T10:23:00.000-06:002012-01-27T10:23:16.553-06:00John Quiggin for NGDP level targeting
(via Yglesias)Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-58539922446391679762012-01-25T10:34:00.000-06:002012-01-25T10:34:03.356-06:00How Larry Summers' memo hobbled Obama's stimulus plan by Dean BakerPeterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-62279670359603418962012-01-24T14:21:00.000-06:002012-01-24T14:21:18.793-06:00DeLong writes the ur-blog post on the ur-text of Obama economic policy.
According to Suskind's book Summers was pushing for a second stimulus.
I agree with Delong when he writes:
not raising its estimates of the desired size of the Recovery Act as the economy and the forecast deteriorated between December 8, 2008 and inauguration day.
not setting up an alternative, Reconciliation-process trackPeterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-42447511212236805092012-01-24T13:31:00.001-06:002012-01-24T13:51:52.495-06:00
Cochrane: Just don't call it "stimulus"! by Noah Smith
Cochrane blogs: "But many advocates, like Krugman and Delong, want more government spending even for times and for countries (Greece) with high interest rates."
I think they have a more nuanced answer. Austerity won't solve Greece's problems for many, many years.
David Brooks' Ignorance is Showing Again by Dean Baker
In his column Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-24754797463196806372012-01-24T13:24:00.001-06:002012-01-24T13:26:05.464-06:00Yglesias tweets: "Alternate 2009: Obama nationalizes insolvent banks and appoints turnaround specialist Mitt Romney to reorganize them."
Most shocking thing in the Lizza article is the following (for me at least):
On February 5, 2009, just as Obama was negotiating the final details of the stimulus package, Summers and Timothy Geithner, the Treasury Secretary, drafted a memo to the President Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-74783864715245413602012-01-24T10:47:00.001-06:002012-01-24T13:15:14.894-06:00E-Textbooks should be free textbooks by Yglesias
But the potential for a true game-changer is out there in the form of Apple’s new iBooks Author software. The software is available for free to Mac owners and should make it relatively easy to put snazzy new digital textbooks together. This opens up the possibility that textbooks could be made the way they probably should have been made Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-67584247204566178642012-01-24T10:44:00.000-06:002012-01-24T10:44:08.446-06:00From Lizza's piece on Obama:
Summers informed Obama that the government was already spending well beyond its means. Yet in the coming months Obama would have to sign, in addition to a stimulus bill, several pieces of legislation left over from the Bush Administration: a hundred-billion-dollar funding bill for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq; perhaps three hundred and fifty billion dollars Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-55545200831205396542012-01-24T09:32:00.000-06:002012-01-24T09:32:09.442-06:00Jared Berstein on the Dec. 2008 memo an Ryan Lizza's piece
(via Krugman)Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-66823877085021881592012-01-23T12:52:00.008-06:002012-01-24T09:27:51.125-06:00Department of Huh?!?!
Moron blogger at "Tiny Revolution" twatted in reference to Lizza's Obama piece that "Krugman wasn't illusioned or ever a real ally. And on any non-crazy ideological spectrum, he's actually not especially liberal."
Krugman calls his blog "Consience of a Liberal." And the moron blogger Jon Schwartz wrote a stupid post about Hitchens, bin Laden, and the Palestinians, Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-44819464860299628942012-01-23T12:44:00.002-06:002012-01-23T12:44:53.482-06:00Doug Henwood in SoCalPeterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-83788039543979103512012-01-23T12:32:00.001-06:002012-01-23T13:40:11.702-06:00The Obama Memos by Ryan Lizza
Original December 2008 memo to President-elect Obama by Larry Summers
Summers and "Senior Federal Reserve Officials" (Bernanke and Geithner?) recommended that the stimulus not be too big or else it would "spook" the public. Obama's mistake was to listen to them.
However I'd cut Obama slack. In the midst of disaster I'd probably have kept those guys on since they Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-50214139764322750622012-01-20T10:17:00.000-06:002012-01-20T10:17:02.567-06:00Great Grandfather's Depression?
(or good news from the historically true and the new)
Debt and Transformation by Krugman
5 Lessons From The SOPA/PIPA Fight by YglesiasPeterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-51889024712905699462012-01-20T09:43:00.002-06:002012-01-20T09:57:59.070-06:00Risk Premium and Multiple Interest Rates
John Taylor has a blog post linking videos by him and Alan Blinder on changes they made to their South-Western Cengage economics textbooks in light of the recent craziness in the economy. (via Thoma)
Taylor's is typically awful given that he's a conservative. Blinder's is good given that he has added section on bubbles, unconventional monetary policy, Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-57028941964263786312012-01-19T11:26:00.003-06:002012-01-19T11:35:36.748-06:00You may remember Mark Walhberg's character in The Other Guys not knowing what the Federal Reserve is or does. In Contraband, an allegory of our current economic malaise, his character floods the economy with money and does the Fed's job, albeit with counterfeit money. His friend's construction company is on the dumps so the friend cons Wahlberg's character into doing a smuggling run. The Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-51033426609489019232012-01-19T11:15:00.000-06:002012-01-19T11:15:58.397-06:00Zakaria Gets the Story Half Right on Workers and Jobs by Baker
Now for the part that Zakaria gets right; Germany has done well because of its different attitude towards its workers. It is German government policy to try to persuade employers to keep workers on their payroll even during a downturn through policies like work sharing. This ensures that the workers continue to stay in the Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-38697601855777934122012-01-17T11:24:00.002-06:002012-01-17T11:24:28.114-06:00Cracking Open the Scientific ProcessPeterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-85393487623430103132012-01-15T10:01:00.000-06:002012-01-15T10:01:22.166-06:00The Bain Bomb: A User’s Guide by John Cassidy
(via DeLong twitterstorm)Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-11337677986922537052012-01-15T09:58:00.000-06:002012-01-15T09:58:09.280-06:00The Washington Post's Tortured Logic On the Fed's Housing Proposals by Dean Baker
The Fed deserves tons of ridicule; letting the housing bubble grow to such dangerous levels was an act of ungodly stupidity. But its laetst proposals on housing are definitely a step in the right direction. Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-80016571946059661292012-01-15T09:39:00.000-06:002012-01-15T09:39:00.233-06:00Spend, Spend, Spend. It’s the American Way. by Robert J. Shiller
And there was another problem. The truth is that stimulus packages never entirely lifted the economy out of the Great Depression. In the United States, unemployment didn’t drop below 12 percent until World War II changed the picture. Wasn't World War II government spending a stimulus?Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-28171383559692456272012-01-13T11:36:00.001-06:002012-01-13T11:37:16.034-06:00New Wes Anderson movie where the female lead reminds one of Hermione Granger/Emma Watson with her youthful earnestness. Via Slate:
New Van Halen song. Do the lyrics include "tattoo" and "dragon"?Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-29999985491132712262012-01-13T10:20:00.000-06:002012-01-13T10:20:50.464-06:00How Is It Possible The Fed's Image Can Be Tarnished Further? by Baker
Addendum: This is what people who were not Greenspan sycophants were saying at the time.Robert Shiller also called the bubble but now is speaking of a "bond bubble" which makes me wonder.Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-64216482667859881862012-01-12T20:30:00.004-06:002012-01-13T09:59:33.633-06:00Elite Expert Fail
Fed’s image tarnished by newly released documents by Zachary Goldfarb
Wasn't it already?
In the six years since, Greenspan’s record — seemingly so sterling when he left the central bank after 18 years — has come under substantial criticism from outside economists and analysts. Many say a range of Fed policies under his watch contributed to the financial crisis, including Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-45546569944402765752012-01-12T10:51:00.000-06:002012-01-12T10:51:12.346-06:00Fire Congress, Dump Mississippi and Alaska: How a private-equity firm would refurbish the United States for quick resale to China. by Will OremusPeterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-55937700234382204182012-01-12T10:35:00.000-06:002012-01-12T10:35:16.225-06:00Jane and John Carter
Paula Patton was really, really good as Jane Carter in Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. Now I want to see Jumping the Broom! She was in Just Wright, Precious, Deja Vu, Swing Vote and Hitch. John Carter looks good. The title character is a Victorian Brit who can jump real high and excels at killing alien creatures and giving Braveheart/St. Crispin's Day motivational Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-35986269070556996462012-01-11T10:04:00.002-06:002012-01-11T10:04:39.962-06:00Sassy Angel by Lorrie MoorePeterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-51949232563691332472012-01-10T12:50:00.002-06:002012-01-10T12:55:41.065-06:00Mark Weisbrot on the American Economics Association annual meeting in Chicago
But a rapid descent into hell was imminent. Former CBO director Douglas Holtz-Eakin was next, talking about the need to "repair" social security and Medicare. The United States has all the characteristics of countries that run into trouble, he said. Then he warned that the US is going to end up like Greece. This is Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-85601075788360694202012-01-09T16:08:00.002-06:002012-01-10T13:56:44.831-06:00Van Halen tour with David Lee Roth
I saw a good documentary on hardcore punk with interviews with Ian MacKay and Henry Rollins among others. Bands mentioned in no order: D.O.A., Minor Threat, Black Flag, Bad Brains, Dead Kennedys (? more traditional punk), Circle Jerks, Germs, Fear, Jerry's Kids, Gang Green, SS Decontrol, Negative FX, Agnostic Front, Minutemen, the Misfits, Negative Approach, Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-29162149643352207202012-01-07T09:44:00.001-06:002012-01-07T09:45:15.683-06:00More on the Celebrations Over the December Jobs Report by Baker
The Soft Bigotry of Low Employment Expectations by KrugmanPeterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-60659833546952273662012-01-06T13:05:00.002-06:002012-01-06T13:05:39.945-06:00Rushdie on HitchensPeterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-16699659115508853882012-01-06T09:58:00.000-06:002012-01-06T09:58:15.198-06:00Charles Dickens's Inner Child by HitchensPeterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-67561560743343500952012-01-06T09:50:00.002-06:002012-01-06T09:50:46.722-06:00How Many Stephen Colberts Are There? by Charles McGrathPeterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-24619780299585493002012-01-05T08:37:00.000-06:002012-01-05T08:37:25.771-06:00The reincarnation of Keynesian Economics by Greg Mankiw
(via Krugman)Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-81763169044096629162012-01-05T08:24:00.000-06:002012-01-05T08:24:18.463-06:00What are asset bubbles and why do they happen? by Noah SmithPeterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-77573442722008911052012-01-02T09:57:00.002-06:002012-01-02T09:57:33.374-06:00excerpt from The Winds of WinterPeterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-40359719614926375392011-12-30T15:46:00.006-06:002012-01-02T09:58:55.891-06:00Winter Is Coming
Did a 2011 overview here. Discussed The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo here.
Forgot to mention Johnny Depp's second Hunter S. Thompson movie The Rum Diary, where Thompson puts the bastards on notice. Also, there was the George R.R. Martin's A Dance of Dragons and HBO's Game of Thrones.
Tyrion Lannister was great and the scene of Eddard Stark's execution was the most shocking Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-57861522845775548672011-12-30T09:45:00.003-06:002011-12-30T12:47:08.475-06:00Really enjoyed The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I liked the Karen O, Trent Reznor, and Atticus Finch cover of Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song" at the opening and the Swedish setting with its social democratic trains. It was funny that the killer listened to Enya and Mikael Blomkvist sported dark speedo underwear. Hopefully they'll make it into a franchise as has been suggested.
The late, great Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-87897991365620618282011-12-28T09:43:00.000-06:002011-12-28T09:43:35.510-06:00The Problem by Krugman
Richard Koo has another paper on balance sheet recession out (pdf), with good charts for a number of countries. I still have some differences with him over monetary policy — I still don’t understand why he doesn’t see debt-eroding inflation as something helpful in dealing with debt overhang — but his view of the sources of our Lesser Depression is completely right.Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-65932087583933101072011-12-27T12:06:00.000-06:002011-12-27T12:06:28.702-06:00Triffin's Dilemma And the Global Safety Shortage by YglesiasPeterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-26835523629485284812011-12-27T10:17:00.005-06:002011-12-28T09:50:35.800-06:00
What a weird year 2011 was. The highlight was meeting Laetitia Sadier. Steely Dan at the Ravinia Theater was amazing. Also, Calexico covering Love was a great moment. Also, Archers of Loaf rocking out at the Onion Blockparty. The movie Drive was cool. Christina Romer wrote about NGP level targeting, Bernanke was annoyed when asked about it and a Time columnist wrote in support of it. Chicago Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-13175972645236038762011-12-27T09:09:00.000-06:002011-12-27T09:09:13.015-06:00
David Brooks is Projecting His Self Indulgence Again by Dean BakerPeterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-57274878277342888012011-12-25T12:37:00.000-06:002011-12-25T12:37:32.769-06:00Why the Global Shortage of Safe Assets Matters by David Beckworth
In the early-to-mid 2000s, the Fed exacerbated the asset-shortage problem as its loose monetary policy got exported via fixed exchange rates to much of the emerging market world which in turn recycled it back to the U.S. economy via the "global saving glut" demand for safe assets. (For more on this point see this post and my paper Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-32968190183966362972011-12-25T12:29:00.004-06:002011-12-25T12:31:22.791-06:00Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-71041781917992105092011-12-22T11:55:00.000-06:002011-12-22T11:55:54.113-06:00A Financial Crisis Needn’t Be a Noose by Christina Romer
Olivier Blanchard Isn't Very Serious by KrugmanPeterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-72187705715756718432011-12-17T12:08:00.002-06:002011-12-17T12:08:21.802-06:00Gully Wells on Hitchens and AmisPeterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-79539573261084873902011-12-17T09:51:00.000-06:002011-12-17T09:51:01.510-06:00Fucking shameful. DeLong posts Dennis Perrin on Hitchens.
Perrin:
"Milosevic wasn't a mere regional thug with blood on his hands--he was a genocidal monster who, if left alone, would wipe out every Muslim and Kosovar he could catch."
Just like Saddam was a "mere" regional thug. Some on the left are very forgiving of the Empire's designated "thugs."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-45659937262468244602011-12-17T09:18:00.002-06:002011-12-17T09:18:48.486-06:00Christopher Hitchens, Consumate Writer, Brilliant Friend by Ian McEwanPeterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-61901803357864010052011-12-16T16:41:00.002-06:002011-12-16T16:41:39.164-06:00Hitchens on the Daily ShowPeterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-76873683106962929402011-12-16T11:31:00.001-06:002011-12-16T11:45:58.842-06:00Victor Navasky on Hitchens
Andrew Sullivan on Hitchens
Timothy Garton Ash
David Corn
Fred KaplanPeterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-40083729361437272592011-12-16T11:25:00.002-06:002011-12-16T11:25:40.100-06:00Good Vanity Fair video montage on Hitchens.
It was so funny to see him on CSPAN early on.Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-90191101595519895992011-12-16T11:19:00.000-06:002011-12-16T11:19:12.394-06:00Graydon Carter remembers HitchensPeterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-30749684987621352112011-12-16T10:30:00.002-06:002011-12-16T18:27:16.269-06:00People Hitchens spoke highly of: Martin Amis, Salman Rushdie, Jessica Mitford, Ian McEwan, Susan Sontag, Nadine Gordimer, Hunter Thompson among others he know. From history, George Orwell, Oscar Wilde, George Eliot among many others.Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-31551197141808743112011-12-16T10:21:00.002-06:002011-12-16T10:21:39.022-06:00Slate's Jacob Weisberg on HitchensPeterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-49587567610907331892011-12-16T10:18:00.001-06:002011-12-16T10:18:47.176-06:00I ran a Hitchens fansite and met him a few times and corresponded with him a few times more. He was very generous, kind, funny and cheeky.
Most memorable was having a drink with him at Café Loup in Greenwich Village and attending a party at his DC apartment with a Pakistani politician, Grover Norquist, and a hot female conservative commentator among others.Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-63524786997509399382011-12-16T10:05:00.003-06:002011-12-16T10:12:29.158-06:00Benjamins Schwartz at the Atlantic
We shared a great admiration for his friend Gene Genovese--a fervent Catholic, a man who at different times in his life was dedicated to a vision of the left and of the right that Christopher equally opposed. And we shared a fondness for one of Genovese's rather martial and uncongenial passages: In irreconcilable Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-56343750155499513872011-12-16T09:58:00.002-06:002011-12-16T09:58:51.481-06:00Hitchens's final interview (with Richard Dawkins)Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-56970022314396520372011-12-16T09:57:00.000-06:002011-12-16T09:57:11.597-06:00Stephen Fry on twitter:
Goodbye, Christopher Hitchens. You were envied, feared, adored, reviled and loved. Never ignored. Never bested. A great and marvellous manPeterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-4294251612756498572011-12-16T09:40:00.004-06:002011-12-16T11:16:02.261-06:00BBC obituary of Hitchens
Ian McEwan and Labour MP Denis McShane.
Denis McShane on Hitchens
Daniel Davies retweets McShane:
Correction. Told Dr Who big export success. Good. Just no-one has ever mentioned Dr W to me abroad in contrast to Monthy P or Yes MinPeterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-42550306423439197822011-12-16T09:35:00.002-06:002011-12-16T09:35:38.300-06:00Guardian obituary of HitchensPeterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-31549164790658787142011-12-16T09:33:00.002-06:002011-12-16T09:33:28.814-06:00D.D. Guttenplan at the NationPeterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-20831559594855295222011-12-16T09:24:00.001-06:002011-12-16T09:29:48.187-06:00Wow I learned so much from Hitchens I don't know what to say. What's really felt is the infighting with the left, but also his love of the literary and ironic. He'd repeat Voltaire's "écrasez l'infâme."
From Wikipedia:
Voltaire's works, especially his private letters, frequently contain the word "l'infâme" and the expression "écrasez l'infâme," or "crush the infamous". The phrase refers to Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-42617099272287817922011-12-16T09:13:00.000-06:002011-12-16T09:13:19.171-06:00Jonathan Karp published "God Is Not Great" and "Hitch-22".Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-32069216399772741372011-12-16T09:06:00.003-06:002011-12-16T09:17:59.116-06:00James Fenton on Hitchens
Molti nemici, molto onore was the old Fascist slogan—many enemies, much honor. Christopher upset some people for bad reasons—others for good. I remember that Michael Foot, the Labour Party leader and veteran representative of what would come to be dismissed as the Old Left, Old Labour, quivering with fury when Christopher’s name came up in an otherwise friendly, Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-44505807436357388242011-12-16T08:26:00.000-06:002011-12-16T08:26:02.104-06:00Hitchens is dead at 62Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-12719050615604380302011-12-15T14:26:00.001-06:002011-12-15T14:26:43.361-06:00Audio of "What Have We Learned about Macroeconomics from the Crisis?" with Olivier Blanchard, Mark Zandi, and Richard Clarida of PIMCO
(via DeLong)Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-84041383257540905082011-12-14T12:14:00.000-06:002011-12-14T12:14:50.374-06:00Fed sees moderate economic growth, takes no new policy action by Neil Irwin
Fed Takes No Action, Citing Signs of Moderate Growth by Binyamin AppelbaumPeterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-12148135558176762892011-12-14T12:08:00.001-06:002011-12-14T12:10:11.514-06:00Gillian Tett on Christine Lagarde
(via DeLong twitterstorm)
Reuters piece on German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble
(via Neil Irwin)Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-47535846311487181052011-12-14T11:57:00.000-06:002011-12-14T11:57:17.324-06:00Joe Stiglitz on the Great Depression by YglesiasPeterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-42968898813020713762011-12-14T11:44:00.002-06:002011-12-14T11:44:50.238-06:00Interest Rates, Inflation, and the Way the World Works (Slightly Wonkish) by KrugmanPeterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-32558018028894080112011-12-12T10:19:00.002-06:002011-12-12T10:19:52.094-06:00No Draghi Ex Machina by KrugmanPeterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-50165483732038911352011-12-11T10:51:00.000-06:002011-12-11T10:51:24.446-06:00Yglesias plugs Dean Baker's "Loser Liberalism"Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-65694606730423803732011-12-10T11:24:00.000-06:002011-12-10T11:24:19.494-06:00
Disaster Can Wait by Barry Eichengreen
(via Thoma)Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-88945104181452079782011-12-09T10:45:00.001-06:002011-12-10T16:05:17.547-06:00The Spy Who Emerged From the Fog by Manohla Dargis
"Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" got thumbs-up from the Ebert show and a "fresh" rating from Rotten Tomatoes. Like many Americans, I'm a sucker for a British accent and it has some of my favorite actors from the UK such as John Hurt, Gary Oldman, Mark Strong, Colin Firth, Ciarán Hinds, Toby Jones, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Tom Hardy.Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-50315452605224300702011-12-09T10:06:00.002-06:002011-12-09T10:18:31.117-06:00Larry Summers Poor Memory on the IMF by Dean Baker
Larry Summers, who was Treasury Secretary under President Clinton and a top Obama economic advisor, apparently has forgotten the IMF's role in the world economy. In an oped column he told readers that: "From the problems of Britain and Italy in the 1970s, through the Latin American debt crisis of the 1980s and the Mexican, Asian and Russian Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-61024378264083839192011-12-08T15:23:00.000-06:002011-12-08T15:23:05.844-06:00Europe and the Crisis of the Welfare State by Yglesias
Kenyan Socialists support the welfare state.Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-77921552028127370872011-12-08T15:16:00.000-06:002011-12-08T15:16:27.328-06:00Time magazine columnist and assistant managing editor for business and economics Fara Foroorah has a column on the Case for Inflation and NGDP level targeting.
Time Warner names online ad exec to run magazinesPeterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-40142751223065358952011-12-08T14:49:00.001-06:002011-12-08T16:15:17.792-06:00Keynan Socialists believe economic bubbles are bad and should be avoided. Likewise, "obverse of bubbles" should be avoided via government intervention.Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-80305496416433713592011-12-08T14:36:00.000-06:002011-12-08T14:36:07.385-06:00Calculated Risk on the Fed's Flow of Funds report for Q3
The Federal Reserve released the Q3 2011 Flow of Funds report today: Flow of Funds.
The Fed estimated that household net worth declined $2.4 trillion in Q3. Household net worth peaked at $66.8 trillion in Q2 2007, and then net worth fell to $50.4 trillion in Q1 2009 (a loss of $16.4 trillion). Household net worth was at $57.4 Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-78429183532978118862011-12-08T14:22:00.000-06:002011-12-08T14:22:44.656-06:00Keynan Socialists are Diamond-Dybig people and believe (shadow) banking systems are vulnerable to bank runs.Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-60100885940701743342011-12-08T11:02:00.000-06:002011-12-08T11:02:44.756-06:00Steve Landsburg on Gary Gorton and the origins of the financial crisisThe last time I blogged on this subject, our astute commenter Bennett Haselton raised a very good question: Bear Stearns is presumably not just sitting on Fidelity’s money; they’re investing it somewhere. Why can’t that investment serve as Fidelity’s collateral? The answer, if I understand Gorton correctly, is that the repo Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-72698752535595462952011-12-08T10:43:00.000-06:002011-12-08T10:43:30.171-06:00So if the Mormon Vulture Capitalist who enacted Obamacare in Taxachusetts wins, it could kill the Republican Party
(or maybe the Mayans were right)
From a NYTimes article on White House concerns over the European Feedback Cycle of Doom:
“It is absolutely an important assumption that if the economy really tanks, really tanks, as the result of strong headwinds coming from Europe, it would be a Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-69509205883214994102011-12-08T10:18:00.001-06:002011-12-08T10:18:58.886-06:00Thoughts on religion, "unhingement," and slavery
In the Hitchens article from yesterday, he discusses Nietzsche's episode in Turin where he had a nervous breakdown/psychotic break:
Eventually, and in miserable circumstances in the Italian city of Turin, Nietzsche was overwhelmed at the sight of a horse being cruelly beaten in the street. Rushing to throw his arms around the animal’s neck, he Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-63373079511892503182011-12-07T09:10:00.003-06:002011-12-07T09:21:54.809-06:00Asteroid named for Hitchens.
Trial of the Will by Hitchens
(I take a slight interest in this, because not long ago I was invited onto a Christian radio station in deepest Dixie to debate religion. My interviewer maintained a careful southern courtesy throughout, always allowing me enough time to make my points, and then surprised me by inquiring if I regarded myself as in any sense a Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-74128979954421801802011-12-07T09:07:00.000-06:002011-12-07T09:07:12.314-06:00Kenyan Socialism supports a financial transaction tax.Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-3007149160660904222011-12-07T09:04:00.001-06:002011-12-07T09:28:50.993-06:00Hoover Institute recommends Hooverite Policies by Noah Smith
The Most Important Economic Speech of His Presidency by Robert Reich
(via DeLong)
Obama gave a speech in Osawatomie, Kansas — where Teddy Roosevelt gave his “New Nationalism” speech in 1910. Roosevelt gave his speech at John Brown Memorial Park. I know Obama liked The Wire and his favorite character was Omar.
A similar show "Hell onPeterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-50596775856040138752011-12-06T11:34:00.000-06:002011-12-06T11:34:18.375-06:00Romney Favors Hubbard Novel
No, not Dianetics.
When asked his favorite novel in an interview shown yesterday on the Fox News Channel, Mitt Romney pointed to “Battlefield Earth,” a novel by L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology. That book was turned into a film by John Travolta, a Scientologist. A spokesman said later it was one of Mr. Romney’s favorite novels. “I’m not in favor of Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-35934877223679925172011-12-06T11:10:00.001-06:002011-12-06T11:10:15.963-06:00Frank Luntz, Occupy and the Battle for Economic Freedom by Mike KonczalPeterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-54952628244878171912011-12-06T11:04:00.001-06:002011-12-06T11:09:13.446-06:00
Fed must act now to boost economy, Evans says
While 3-percent inflation may sound "shocking," he said, research shows that central banks should fight liquidity traps by allowing inflation to run above target over the medium term.
Since high U.S. unemployment is probably due to the effect of a liquidity trap rather than a structural shift in the economy, Evans said, added monetary Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-66560845218065954052011-12-05T16:35:00.000-06:002011-12-05T16:35:12.724-06:00David Warsh on Hayek's inflated reputation
via Krugman
#pandasummit twitterstorm via DeLongPeterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-31267846988021060362011-12-02T13:37:00.004-06:002011-12-03T09:43:31.754-06:00
Profligate Zombies by Krugman
David Brooks: making stuff up, again by Doug Henwood
Godzilla vs. Bambi, Op-ed edition by Jonathan Chait
Killing the Euro by Krugman
But to close the gap through rising prices in the north, policy makers would have to accept temporarily higher inflation for the euro area as a whole. And they’ve made it clear that they won’t. Last April, in fact, the European Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-31913486794626333432011-12-02T10:48:00.002-06:002011-12-02T10:53:32.439-06:00Eugoogly
Christa Wolf Dies at 82
Christa Margarete Ihlenfeld was born on March 18, 1929, in Landsberg, a Silesian town that was renamed Gorzow when it was incorporated into Poland after World War II. Her father, Otto Ihlenfeld, a grocer who had been a Social Democrat before Hitler took power, joined the Nazi Party. She herself was a member of the girls’ version of the Hitler Youth.
Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-23659213311620019112011-12-01T15:52:00.003-06:002011-12-01T15:53:40.637-06:00Aggregate Demand and the Global Economic Recovery by Janet Yellen
(via Thoma)Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-73002163351912181112011-12-01T11:58:00.000-06:002011-12-01T11:58:06.609-06:00Heartless Bastards announces tour dates and provide tracks off new album. Tickets go on sale this weekend.
via Krugman, Jean-Claude Trichet, June 2010:
One cut after another: many economists say that there is a clear risk of deflation. What are your views on this?
“I don’t think that such risks could materialise. On the contrary, inflation expectations are remarkably well anchored in line Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-75806651982055430942011-12-01T11:24:00.002-06:002011-12-01T11:28:13.012-06:00Joan Robinson’s “Open letter from a Keynesian to a Marxist” by Mike Beggs
Ricardo existed at a particular point when English history was going round a corner so sharply that the progressive and the reactionary positions changed places in a generation. He was just at the corner where the capitalists were about to supersede the old landed aristocracy as the effective ruling class.
Ricardo wasPeterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-12585942589662778232011-12-01T11:21:00.000-06:002011-12-01T11:21:40.874-06:00
6 Central Banks Act to Buy Time in Europe by Binyamin Appelbaum
“The purpose of these actions is to ease strains in financial markets and thereby mitigate the effects of such strains on the supply of credit to households and businesses and so help foster economic activity,” said a statement released by the Fed, the Bank of England, the European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan, the Bank ofPeterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-52864639281171287172011-11-30T17:01:00.002-06:002011-11-30T17:02:25.169-06:00Rereading Liaquat Ahamed's Lords of Finance, I came across the interesting phrase "the obverse of a bubble." It's what the coordinated actions of the advanced economies' central banks today were designed to prevent.
During boom times when speculative bubbles form, central banks are supposed to "take away the punch bowl." During times of gloom, when interest rates of Italian, Spanish and German Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-6116405626498046962011-11-30T13:24:00.000-06:002011-11-30T13:24:49.512-06:00xlcd cartoon on Von Braun and the Saturn V rocket.
Makes me think of Pynchon.
(via Daniel Kuehn.)Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-84399102803383936612011-11-30T13:19:00.001-06:002011-11-30T13:19:31.224-06:00Krugman on Sound Opinions
Yglesias:
ADP today reported that employment in the U.S. nonfarm private business sector increased by 206,000 from October to November on a seasonally adjusted basisPeterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-11573486838022288222011-11-30T11:57:00.000-06:002011-11-30T11:57:19.817-06:00Progress in Economics Education Department: Yes, a Temporary Fiscal Expansion Would Be a Good Thing by DeLongPeterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-46963864351417662952011-11-30T11:28:00.001-06:002011-11-30T12:03:12.581-06:00Yes, Virginia. The banks really were bailed out. by Steve Randy Waldman
(via Thoma)
Europe will show us what it looks like when the bailouts aren't sufficient. Will the Austrians and less-focused OWS types pay attention?
European banks were bailed out today.
Central Banks Take Joint Action to Ease Debt Crisis by Binyamin Appelbaum
Central banks expand system of ‘swapping’ money to ease Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6648768.post-52523715312022994962011-11-29T16:12:00.000-06:002011-11-29T16:12:42.670-06:00Eugoogly
Ken Russell, the English filmmaker and writer whose outsize personality matched the confrontational brashness of his movies, among them “Women in Love” and “The Devils,” died on Sunday at his home in Lymington, England. He was 84.
...
“Women in Love” became infamous for an extended wrestling scene between the two male stars, Oliver Reed and Alan Bates, that showed Peterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08272747870634233567noreply@blogger.com0