Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.

Post flambe

OMB Watch has an article on talk of a stimulus package and what it should not do. Actually, it does propose an idea, but I left that out. To quote: “During his speech at the Union League Club of Chicago on Jan. 7, Bush reiterated the importance of continuing his current policies to address what […]

Psycological Kevlar

Psychological Kevlar Act of 2007 introduced by Patrick Kennedy was to help PTSD and brain trauma research expand. It has come to my attention that the DoD is thinking about using propranolol as a prophylactic to help reduce ptsd symptoms during conflict and after. I had found this articlefrom a wife of a soldier who […]

Democracy through smart bombs

The Asian Times carries an article and opinion about democratizing the ME. This week, coinciding with President George W Bush’s two-day trip to Saudi Arabia, the Bush administration is expected to notify Congress about an arms package for Saudi Arabia. The sale is part of an overall package that was announced at the end of […]

Flamer

This blog seemed to provide a comprehensive list of technique. The following caught my eye of a couple hundred tacks. Live and learn. I am following CoRev’s lead that flamers are not trolls. Short Term Versus Long Term:this is a particular case of the Excluded Middle. For example, “We must deal with crime on the […]

7 years of the stock market

Earlier today Cactus posted on the real Dow over the past seven years. Another comparison is to look at the alternative strategy, investing in cash or 3 month T bill. If in January, 2001 you had placed your investments in 3 month T bills and reinvested the income in 3 month T bills, at the […]

Moody doesn’t like the US

From the latest Financial Times:Moody’s says spending threatens US rating The US is at risk of losing its top-notch triple-A credit rating within a decade unless it takes radical action to curb soaring healthcare and social security spending, Moody’s, the credit rating agency, said on Thursday. In its annual report on the US, Moody’s signalled […]

WTO Doha, agriculture, and values

As I re-do templates for eventual updates to the site, I found this graphic on AB from the early days. I did misplace the link, sorry. But it appeared to be a great graphic for several thoughts: 1. The foundering of the Doha agreements was centered around agriculture protection. 2. Our beliefs about values are […]

The Fed and Elections

We are already starting to hear discussion about the point that this is an election year will influence Fed policy –either to ease or tighten more then it should because of the election. The historic record is clearly that in election year the Fed does what economic fundamentals call for it to do and that […]

Austan Goolsbee, Obama’s Econ Man

T-bone got me thinking in his response to my comment about Obama. Well, as a good AB’er, that meant I had to go a hunting. In this case, specifically for Obama’s econ advisor: Austan Goolsbee. This lead me to an article by Austan Goolsbee, It’s Not About the Money. Wow, a man thinking like me. […]