I don’t feel like talking about economics right now, so let’s talk Rock and Roll. The contract with Van Halen’s legendary “brown M&Ms” rider has been published by The Smoking Gun. And it was there for purely rational reasons: While the underlined rider entry has often been described as an example of rock excess, the […]

By Spencer The real trade deficit has been contracting so far this year and accounted for a major portion of growth this year. Just another example of how in the new world the US exports recessions. But this quarter this is changing. We now have Oct and Nov real trade data that will enter into […]

This main post is placed here for threaded conversations, group discussions, and e-mail communications via threads. Benefits for visitors: * threading, pagination and sorting of comments * OpenID or JS-Kit profile identification * safe HTML capabilities * optional tracking of replies via email * automatic language selection Threaded comment function added today. E-mail notification instructions […]

rdan The GAO reports on the complications of measuring the effectiveness (or ineffectiveness) of TARP actions. TARP’s activities could improve market confidence in institutions that choose to participate and have beneficial effects on credit markets, but several factors will complicate efforts to measure any impact. If TARP is having its intended effect, a number of […]

Robert Waldmann According to Ezra Klein (who is very gentle in his criticisms) Summers wrote the following As for [Milton] Friedman — I’m not so sure he looks bad. What is most screwed up today? GSEs, Citibank, regional banks. What is most regulated? Same list. What is least screwed up? Hedge funds and the like. […]

rdan hat tip Z Facts. hat tip mcwop for this chart: Yves provides added links and comment here at Naked Capitalism: But as usual the Fed surprises us all with their lack of transparency. They are asking Congress about permission to issue their own debt directly, not tied to Treasuries. This is known in central […]

rdan H. RES. 1531 is proposed to block Administration blanket pardons. It is worth a discussion…repeat…discussion.

by cactus Bush, AIDS, and Malaria Hilzoy comments on a story about a new malaria prevention vaccine. To summarize, clinical trials show the vaccine is about 53% effective in infants five to 17 months of age, and 65% as effective among children who are 16 weeks old or younger. Regular readers may recall my post […]

rdan (Lifted from comments from Bruce Webb’s main post Is it true that foreigners finance our debt? to her main post, with Prof. Rosser’s permission) I have just found and read the contents of this discussion this afternoon. The essential points I was trying to raise in my Econospeak blog entry were: (i) US Treasury […]

JS Kit will be converting Angry Bear’s comments from haloscan to their system this week I am told. This will change rss feeds for comments. I will then see what can be done with navigation on the site. Update: 4:00 PM Please be patient as conversion takes place. Haloscan and js kit are still mixed. […]