Scott Lemieux linked to an article that in turn referenced a BEA report on state GDP gains with this map: or, if you just want to see the numbers, “Growth only slightly lower than Michigan’s” should be a great campaign slogan.* *And that’s ignoring that the second-largest contributor to that gain is Finance and Insurance. […]

The real story of Michelle Bachmann’s “win” in the Iowa straw poll (not to be confused with the Iowa primary) isn’t that she got just over 4,800 votes—it’s that she paid for 6,000, proving at least 1,200 Iowa straw pollers are smarter than most of the reporters covering her “win.” Late to the party mention: […]

With a hat tip to Tim Harford, The General Manchester Police are reporting their already-public-record convictions via Twitter (@gmpolice). On a quick check, four of the eleven so far convicted (including the one woman), are over 35. So far: It appears that legendary “moral decay” began under Margaret Thatcher. Whodathunkit? Well, maybe David Cameron in […]

The bad news of the day is that about $5B ($5,000,000,000) more than previously believed went to buy goods made in China, Japan, non-major South and Central American countries, and other places outside the U.S. Per the Vampire Squid (tm Matt Taibbi), this should cause a revision to Q2 US GDP from 1.3% to 0.9%. […]

Or, Barack Obama sucks at 11-dimensional chess. On July 14, 2011, S&P was assuming that 2001 and 2003 tax fraud deferrals would expire at the end of 2012 [Update: link updated, via MG; PDF–see page 4]. It is no longer making that assumption, which is worth another $4T. Brad DeLong annotates/redlines the press release without […]

From Crash of the Titans, pp. 33-34: The largest chunks of these [created by Merrill in the winter of 2006-2007] CDOs still carried triple-A ratings, at least in name, because the credit rating agencies hadn’t bothered to recalibrate their antiquated ratings models. But almost no one was willing to buy the triple-A portion of these […]

by Mike Kimel Assume a world similar to ours, but with a major difference. At some point in the 1920s, an inventor came up with a product called Fleem. Fleem has interesting properties, and when applied liberally in a house, gives even the meanest hovel a more homey feel. A healthy market for Fleem develops […]

Via Ellie Lang, the NYT (no link, unless this works) lists thirteen (13) countries that have a AAA credit rating from S&P: Switzerland Hong Kong Sweden Germany Canada Denmark Britain Netherlands Finland Norway Austria France Australia The thing all thirteen have in common? All provide National Health Care.

References are here (Cowen) and here (Salmon).* Just because Charlie Sheen got drunk, did some other drugs, and committed adultery doesn’t mean he’ll do it again. Just because someone who calls himself Jack the Ripper has killed two women in London doesn’t mean he’ll do it again. Just because the U.S. dropped a hydrogen bomb […]

Brad DeLong asked a few days ago who he should be reading on a daily basis. Following is a cross-post from my nominee, The Hunting of the Snark: Kudlow’s Komedy Kapers Larry Kudlow is worried that Obama is ruining the economy. Larry KudlowAugust 5, 2011 4:30 P.M. More Obama Spending Won’t Do ItAnd stocks know […]