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

Waiting for the DeLong-Fish Cage Match

While I’m trying to decide whether unmanaged funds are preferrable to mismanaged ones, and wondering whether any discussion of Mark Cuban (I like the picture better than CNN’s) belong here,* the NYT decides to continue its determined destruction of its reputation. Stanley Fish manages to forget—or, more accurately, ignore, since he mentions it in the […]

In Which I Agree with Richard Shelby, and Ask the Next Question

Via Dr. Black, the NYT quotes the Alabama Senator: “Companies fail every day and others take their place. I think this is a road we should not go down,” said Mr. Shelby, the senior Republican on the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. “They’re not building the right products,” he said. “They’ve got good […]

I Wish I TA’ed Monopolistic Competition instead of Economic Development

Everyone should read Joe Wilcox’s update, based on the release of more court docs, on the ongoing saga of Why Vista Sucked on Release. (Short version: because Intel asked.) Teaser quote, which would look fine in Mankiw or Krugman’s next Macro text: Based on the available information, I come to an easy conclusion: One monopoly […]

The Gold Standard in One Easy Quote

Warren Buffett: [Gold] gets dug out of the ground in Africa, or someplace. Then we melt it down, dig another hole, bury it again and pay people to stand around guarding it. It has no utility. Anyone watching from Mars would be scratching their head.

The WSJ Editorial Page Talks, the Market Listens

Thursday morning editorial: The voters may be full of hope about the looming Obama Presidency, but so far investors aren’t. No President-elect in the postwar era has been greeted with a more audible hiss from Wall Street. The Dow has lost 1,342 points, or about 14%, since the election, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq […]

Felix Salmon Explains It All to You

Ken Houghton There does indeed seem to have been a visible change in Treasury policy since the election. Until that point, it cared a little about optics. Now, it’s giving monster bailouts to the likes of AIG and American Express; it’s dragging its feet on homeowner relief; and in general Hank Paulson’s Wall Street buddies […]

The Winners Compensate the Losers? Thoughts on Armistice Day + 90

Ken Houghton Not Veteran’s Day, which is a U.S. construction to make certain we don’t have to give another Federal holiday to Those Who Served. And arguably not Remembrance Day, the version here in Canada, since (as Rob[ert] Farley notes) there are “only” ten known survivors remaining of The War to End All Wars, which […]

Overcoming Classism, a four-minute lesson

Ken Houghton Consider this a bright, cheerful post, as opposed to my next one. As long as TAPPED is talking about “classism,” let’s recall that the easy solution was Common Knowledge by the early 1980s: When I was in school I ran with kid down the streetBut I watched him burn himself up on bourbon […]

"A Man With a Briefcase Can Steal More Money than any Man with a Gun"

Ken Houghton I would prefer not to talk about AIG, especially since we already have two posts on it today: Robert brilliantly puts it into context, while DOLB goes for blood. But the Gorgeous, Brilliant, and Talented BessNormally-not-this-astute-or-succinct Equity Private posted the perfect summary. And Floyd Norris is on fire as to why this move, […]