It’s bad enough to violate Brad DeLong’s first rule (which, I hasten to rationalize, was posted when DeLong himself was disagreeing). It’s worse when the opposition to Krugman is coming from…the WSJ editorial page. (Or, as Barry Ritholtz correctly describes it, “the comics section.” Just less funny, and more likely to make the two-drink minimum […]

Slowly moving back into everything, and so catching up with Mark Thoma’s use of Paul Volcker as his latest line of Defense of Giving the Fed More Regulatory Power. (Amusing in itself, given Volcker’s description of the Fed before he was Owned by the Obama Administration.) I like Thoma (a lot more than he likes […]

The flak started quickly. Rusty suggested taking Red Cross training and being part of the solution—the very solution that can’t reach the country. kharris compared me (un?)favorably to The Drudge Report for saying (after Robert Gates did) that the delivery obstruction was “deliberate.” The problem is the evidence keeps mounting—and it’s all on my side. […]

Via Constance, I see that the donations are pouring in. Medecins sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders), Partners in Health, even the American Red Cross. There is supply. And there is clearly demand. But it appears that delivery is being deliberately impeded: As life-saving medical supplies, food, water purification chemicals and vehicles pile up at the […]

The rest is details: The reason I choose to pay through the nose for my computers is very simple: unlike just about every other manufacturer in the business, Apple appreciate the importance of good industrial design. but they’re nice details. (posted from my daughters’s “new” G4, which needs a new keyboard, but has a right […]

What Was the Job of the Banks in 2009?

UPDATE: In this context, Dr. Black catches Jamie Dimon expressing what is at best ignorance: However, [Dimon] cautioned, until the market meltdown “you never saw losses in these products, because home prices were going up.” All that research in 1984 and 1990 was for naught, apparently. I’m still away (things are better, but still not […]

I’m certain that everyone is waiting with bated breath to see if my five-part “NOT totally clueless” series is completed in five parts or if it gets extended again, but a couple of personal events have intervened, so I’ll be away for a few days. Enjoy the other performers, and don’t forget to tip your […]

Via (what else?) Alea’s Twitter feed, John Taylor defends himself against Ben Bernanke: “The evidence is overwhelming that those low interest rates were not only unusually low but they logically were a factor in the housing boom and therefore ultimately the bust,” Taylor, a Stanford University economist, said in an interview today in Atlanta. It’s […]

Note: I planned to finish this here, but the post became far too long, and splits quite well.  What follows is applications of economic theory and background material on financial decisions. To be clear, I hate the phrase “casino capitalism.” It’s rather unfair to casinos, which know how to do risk management: make an offer […]