NPR writes: Get outside if you can Saturday evening and look up. Something that only happens a couple times in most people’s lives should be putting on a pretty good show (and we can all use a break from the news of late). As NASA’s Science News explains, a “super moon” will be dominating the […]

Wow, FX space is totally rattled this week: the yen hit 76.25 against the dollar at the end of the day on March 16 and has since rebounded to current levels 80.90 (1:50pm in NY on 3/18). What happened over this time span? Mass speculation on yen appreciation due to earthquake-related repatriation, followed by technical […]

by Linda Bealecrossposted with Ataxingmatter Information Reporting on foreign depositors in US banks–Florida’s GOP delegation shamefully supports tax evasion facilitation Many wealthy Americans have taken advantage of banking secrecy in other countries, particularly Switzerland, to hide their assets and income from the United States, thus avoiding paying their fair share of taxes on their riches.  […]

by Mike Kimel Japan: The Post-WW2 Rise, the 1980s Peak, and the Decline – A Simple TheoryCross-posted at the Presimetrics blog. A lot has been written about the disaster in Japan. I don’t have much I can add to that, except that like everyone else (or at least everyone civilized), I am so very sorry […]

Simon Johnson offers pointed criticism of the role Timothy Geithner has played to date in the Great Recession and bank regulation, in particular as an advisor and architect to the Obama economic team and how that policy is presented and pursued in Congress. Another worthwhile read.

This week in 1861: March 18:  Governor Sam Houston of Texas refuses to take oath of allegiance to Confederacy and is deposed.[214],  ,Confederate Brigadier General Braxton Bragg prohibits further passage of supplies to Fort Pickens at Pensacola, Florida.[214][215]  (ilsm)

Comments have gotten heated and way off base (not a political statement 🙂 if the goal is adding knowledge and a thorough critique of ideas that are presented. I will be taking a more active role in moderation. I think we had crossed a boundary somewhere along the line. The Brown-Johnston back and forth seemed […]

A recent ruling on countervailing duties and anti-dumping duties by the World Trade Organization:(bolding is mine) Senior Economist Ian Fletcher for the Coalition for a Prosperous America offers one point of view: The American position is that we are entitled to apply what are called “countervailing duties” against products that are subsidized by foreign governments. […]

Center for Business Public Policy’s Jeffrey Brown wrote a simple economic critique of David Cay Johnston’s (Tax.com) piece on pensions. David Cay Johnston dropped by with some lengthy comments and replies. Well worth reading the entire thing, especially the comments.

I give up. It was perfectly obvious what was happening at Fukushima on Saturday afternoon, when I posted bullet points at Skippy: there was going to be a major cleanup cost and the live reactors were not salvageable, but nothing fatal to many was loose in the atmosphere yet. Which is why I followed up […]