…at least not so directly: The Treasury Department has turned down a request by General Motors for up to $10 billion to help finance the automaker’s possible merger with Chrysler, according to people close to the discussions. Instead of providing new assistance, the Treasury Department told G.M. on Friday, the Bush administration will now shift […]

It is no secret that the only movie I’m waiting to see this year is Quantum of Solace, even if they did have the poor taste not to use Janelle. Well, Paul McAuley saw it more than two weeks ago, and confirmed it is everything viewers of the recent Casino Royale would expect. So far […]

Compare and contrast: Philadelphia, after a first-time-in-25-years win: The School District of Philadelphia – as if to prove you don’t need miserable weather to rain on a parade – has no plans to close for a victory celebration, no matter how momentous the occasion might be. “Our expectations are that students will report to school […]

UPDATE II: An e-mail from Rick Davis clarifies the plans for the last moments of the campaign: On Monday, we will have a 14 state rally with our candidates crisscrossing the country trying to turn out our voters and sway the final undecided voters. Governor Palin will hit Ohio, Missouri, Iowa, Colorado, Nevada and Alaska […]

From a rabid Obama supporter in North Carolina: Don’t let this happen to you. My Fellow Americans, my ballot is cast. Make certain that, by the end of voting November 4th, yours is too.

Though the claim made may not be true, the sentiment seems real: Update: Brad DeLong apparently beat me to publishing this one by about 40 minutes. I blame my trying to use a Mac, but it’s nice to know neither of us got it from the WaPo website, where it was up yesterday.

In contrast to Mankiw’s attitude (see cactus’s post below*), my favorite election story of the year comes from Ms. Mochi_tsuki: So they started explaining to me what an absentee ballot is and how to fill one out. I pointed out that I’d spent 11 years of my adult life overseas and was very familiar with […]

Starting in September, my income, such as it were, is basically in C$. Stephen Gordon explains, with graphics, why that has been such a bad trade. The scariest part: The 2002-2008 expansion provided significant real income gains, and more than half of those gains were due to the improvement in Canada’s terms of trade. So […]

Via Dr. Black, we get CNN reporting: Younger, healthier workers likely wouldn’t abandon their company-sponsored plans, said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, McCain’s senior economic policy adviser. “Why would they leave?” said Holtz-Eakin. “What they are getting from their employer is way better than what they could get with the credit.” And why is it better? Because of […]

You can’t make him think—or own to loan. Krugman notes: [L]ast week Joe Nocera of The Times pointed out a key weakness in the U.S. Treasury’s bank rescue plan: it contains no safeguards against the possibility that banks will simply sit on the money. “Unlike the British government, which is mandating lending requirements in return […]