Bush’s Trade Protection Extends to Shrimp One might hope that aquafarming would both increase income for Asian suppliers of shrimp as it allows American consumers to enjoy lower prices from this excellent source of nutrition. But the trade protectionists rule the Bush White House: Shrimp, the most popular seafood in America, may become more expensive […]

Labor Versus Leisure in the US and Europe Today’s NY Times has a story about the amount of time off that people in Europe enjoy. The author of the piece seems to detect a reversal of the trend in countries like France and Germany toward working fewer hours. Intentionally or not, the piece is quite […]

About Those Falling Oil Prices We Promised… I guess it turns out that invading Iraq isn’t going to have the effect on oil prices that many of the war’s proponents said it would — looks like oil prices won’t be falling next year after all. At least that’s the only thing regarding the benefits of […]

Edwards as the Anti-Cheney One of the reasons I like Edwards so much as Kerry’s pick for VP is that he makes the perfect anti-Cheney. The way in which this is most obvious is probably in the careers outside of politics that each had. Edwards was a lawyer who spent much of his time and […]

Medicare CalPundit highlights this excerpt from a story on the investigation of Medicare honcho Thomas Scully’s squelching of Richard Foster’s estimate that the Republican Medicare Drug Plan would cost $540 billion rather than the advertised $400 billion: The new report…found that on five occasions between June and October 2003, [Foster’s boss Thomas] Scully blocked the […]

The Cockroach Exchange Rate Index In an earlier post, I noted how Ragout properly criticized this attack post from Don Luskin. But it seems that Brad DeLong felt it was necessary to get some stronger bug spray to finish off what he calls the intellectual cockroach (comparing cockroaches to Luskin strikes me as a but […]

The New York Post For those of you inclined to, for some mysterious reason, ever believe the New York Post, here’s the screenshot from their web site this morning: Looks like the conservative Post is having a tough time distinguishing its private fantasies from reality. AB UPDATE: Atrios has another amusing NY Post screenshot.

Confused over this Real Wage Debate? Cheney says real wages are rising, while Kerry says they are falling. Who’s right? It seems the Washington Post editorial writers failed to notice it was Cheney who was lying, but Billmon notes the WaPo faux pas from the Whiskey Bar here, here, and here. The Bureau of Labor […]

Kerry Picks Edwards WASHINGTON (CNN) — After months of speculation and a highly secretive selection process, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry, has chosen his colleague Sen. John Edwards as his running mate for the 2004 presidential election, sources close to the campaign say. Kerry is expected to make an official announcement at a […]

My Fahrenheit 9/11 Review … Actually, I don’t have one, due to the movie being sold out both times I tried to see it. First, I went to a suburban theater on Saturday for a 6:30 showing; given that it was showing on two screens and it was the second week that the movie was […]