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

Meme of The Day: "Bond Vigilantes"

The gents at Capital Gains and Games—and soon, likely, the ma’am at EconMom—are in the throes of ecstasy (not necessarily the drug). There are “bond vigilantes” on the horizon. Stan Collender: The bond market “vigilantes” — the same people who forced the Clinton administration to propose and push for deficit reduction — are starting to […]

Responding to incentives; Notes on Canadian Provincial Differences

The first thing my uncle (who has lived in the Toronto area since, I believe, the late 1950s) asked was “Why on earth are you going to Quebec instead of Ontario?” Considering the evidence, he may have a point. Comparison of Licence Plate mottos: Quebec Province: Je me souviens (which I would translate to “I […]

Two Hours Later, All is Well

As noted last week, we are in Montreal, and Videotron was scheduled today to install telephone, television, and internet services. They came through with flying colors. At approximately 12:50, I made a phone call to inquire about the arrival time of the individuals I had been expecting. It was revealed by the representative that they […]

Pluralising Anecdotes

In the grand tradition of cactus, I have arranged with Videotron for telephone, television, and internet service at our apartment in Montreal starting on Tuesday morning. If all goes well, I hope to blog about it on Tuesday. If all does not go well, I’ll be blogging it sometime after the opening ceremonies of the […]

It’s All About the Governors

Roger Ailes notes that Tim Kaine (D-VA) is the frontrunner for Dem VP, while KathyG (whose post on Cass Sunstein is a must-read) notes that Tim Pawlenty (R-MN) appears likely to be McCain’s choice, likely ensuring one ovation at the Minneapolis convention. Hmm. The man who presides over his state being described as “the state […]

Weird Tom Disch Connection

Today at Readercon, my wife participated on a Necrology panel. (“Those we’ve lost this year…”) An audience member mentioned that Tom Disch wrote an episode of Miami Vice, featuring James Brown. Also appearing was Chris Rock, four years before New Jack City made him a movie star. Anyone who can tell me about the episode? […]

In Which I Say Something Nice about Globalization

It’s still not “free trade” in a sense anyone but the self-delusional Greg Mankiw could describe it, but there are some gains accruing to China. As the Chinese economy moves from agriculture to producing more goods and services, two things have happened. Energy demand has gone up: And people have been able to afford services […]

Department of False Equivalences

Is there a sane purpose to this? As long as more homeowners default on mortgages, losses to financial institutions will mount. Those losses already exceed $400 billion, and some analysts believe they will top $1 trillion before the housing carnage is over. By comparison, Congress has authorized $650 billion so far to fight the Iraq […]

The WSJ Editorial Page: Fumbling Toward Accuracy II

The editors of the WSJ agree with Brad DeLong that the Fannie/Freddie problem is that their short-term cash flows may be(come) impaired: The most immediate danger is that investors will shrink from rolling over the debt of the two companies, leading to a run a la Bear Stearns….With so much on the line, we’ve been […]