NYT lede, 10:57 p.m., 2 October: Gov. Sarah Palin displayed more confidence and fluency than she did in recent interviews as Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. attacked her running mate. Nothing soft about that bigotry. (Dissenting view: Brad DeLong) Who knew that Gwen Ifill could be an easier interviewer than Katie Couric or Charlie Gibson. […]

Ken Houghton I’ve been trying not to talk in these terms, but I’m sick, and Walter Jon links to an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education that puts it out in the open, so let us compare: The problems had emerged around 1870, starting in Europe. In the Austro-Hungarian Empire, formed in 1867, in […]

I posted this in comments at Lance’s place, but figure to run it up the flag here as well. Speaking as one who supported Monday’s bill and generally opposes today’s, here’s the high-level list of reasons: It wasn’t going to authorize the whole $700B, but about$250B, with renewal (or scrapping) to follow. (That Henry Paulson […]

I have a cold, or perhaps a touch of the flu, so posting will be light for the next few days. Especially if this is true, which somewhat means the election is over and I can go back to looking at data and hoping the House fails to pass the Christmas Card list bill. But […]

The headline of this piece is “Deposit Plan Will Cost Banks More.” Is there any evidence in the text that this is true? The closest I can find is: After forgoing premiums from 1996 to 2006, the agency must now turn to struggling banks and ask them to pay more, putting more pressure on the […]

Let’s see. There are a bunch of people ready to riot on the streets—or at least do the White Person version of rioting and vote Republican, mainly because of the lies of several House Republicans. And there are a precious few people who believe action needs to be taken and—while they might prefer, say, The […]

Floyd Norris throws up [at] the details. He is not alone. Anyone keeping money in the U.S. stock market from this point forward better have no choice.

by Ken Houghton My article for Institutional Investor on the investment opportunities available in Emerging Markets Infrastructure, most especially in water and sanitation, is available on their website (subscribers only, it appears). UPDATE: For those looking for discussions of water and sanitation that are not gated, angrybear frequently discusses the subjects.

L’Shana Tovah, and let’s talk about something near and dear to Fox News’s heart: the evil Canadian press. CBC has apologized for an opinion piece: In the article, Mallick said Palin appeals to “the white trash vote” with her “toned-down version of the porn actress look.” To make matters worse, the apology includes a glorious […]

by Ken Houghton Claudia asks the question of the day of the previous post: When you say “the coming harvest” are you speaking from a purely literal standpoint, or are you also speaking metaphorically? I was starting from the literal. When you get to the consequences, then you get to think Buffy the Vampire Slayer. […]