Robert Waldmann Wow an argument in favor of protection from Paul Krugman. I never expected to read that. Now he’s against protection all the same, but he does admit that there is a good argument that right now a bit of protection would be good for the world. The argument, basically, is that governments aren’t […]

Lukas Foss has died. He’s one of those composers/conductors who lead the way to contemporary classical music. More honored than beloved, his reputation will, I expect, improve with time.

Well the true colors are beginning to show. Navarrette is a San Diego columnist whose work appears on CNN.com. His stimulus piece is called Ridiculous Items in Stimulus Plan Out of the whole plan which items stood out for our man Ruben? I’d settle for removing more of the ridiculous items that House Democrats slipped […]

Paul Krugman writes about “Vanishing Dark Matter.” Robert Waldmann waxes nostalgic. Ah memories. Brad DeLong and I recall an impromptu debate on dark matter at 1050 Mass ave (NBER) featuring Paul Krugman and Larry Summers (apparently just back from advising Dukakis — some memories aren’t as pleasant as others). googling (krugman, summers, nber, … “anything […]

by cactus Things to Do About Taxes When You’re President Every time we have a new President, we are treated to a new spectacle of people nominated to high office who have made questionable decisions. The new administration is not any different than its predecessors in this regard. Often, the questionable decisions involve taxes, more […]

By Spencer The New Republic recently published an article by Jim Powell calledNot-So-Great Depression How Warren G. Harding got us out of it. Jim Powell wrote: Which U.S. president ranks as America’s greatest depression fighter? America’s greatest depression fighter was Warren Gamaliel Harding…. Harding inherited Wilson’s mess — in particular, a post–World War I depression […]

by reader Noni Mausa What You Mean “We”, Rich Man? From Thomas Friedman’s op-ed today (Elvis Has Left the Mountain, February 1, 2009) he discusses the loss of trust in the whole financial world. Davos is worried, the banks that were previously rock solid turn out to be papier mache, Madoff in his depradations curiously […]

by Bruce Webb Disappointing from the point of view of participation, yet not unexpected. Because I just don’t think they have the numbers on their side. On Friday I invited AB readers, and particularly those critical of HR.1 aka the House Stimulus Bill, to dig into the numbers and develop lists of spending items that […]

by Divorced one like Bush So, I’m listening to Saturday Night Fish Fry as I’m composing. It’s the blues, though the station is a jazz and folk station. Public broadcasting at it’s best! Maybe if the economy sinks enough, we’ll return to the big bands and swing. No more solo acts of Rockband. And, maybe […]

by STR Tom Daschle’s health care book – Part III Five functions of the Federal Health Board 1. set rules for the expanded Federal Employee Health Benefits Program 2. promote “high value” medical care, i.e., recommending coverage of drugs and procedures backed by solid evidence, and ranking services and therapies (how we gather this evidence […]