I have (vainly, I suspect, in both senses of the phrase), tried to start a meme on Twitter, #ifTimGeithnerrantheEmergencyRoom. “The defibrillator would only charge to 30 to prevent scarring; anything more and you’re on your own” probably isn’t winning friends or influencing people, but it does make me feel better. It also makes me look […]

Robert Waldmann is pleased to note that he was right and that Paul Krugman and Joeseph Stiglitz were wrongggg. They claimed that PPIP was a huge giveaway, because purchases of toxic assets would be 85% financed by no-recourse loans from the FDIC. I noted that this financing would only be available if the FDIC (not […]

Robert Waldmann Krugman not considered a competent data downloader in the Newspaper which employees him. Writing about the new slashed budget proposed in the UK, Landon Thomas Jr sees invisible bond vigilantes ” bond market demands to follow through on promised austerity plans.” If this means anything it means that, before the announcement of the […]

Via Jonathan Turley, a real “it gets better” video:

By Daniel Becker We all know the arguments about the loss of good jobs. Automation, competition, outsourcing. We’ve been told that America was striking out to raise it’s status when it came to jobs. Don’t lament the loss of those blue collar manufacturing jobs to cheap labor. They aren’t worth it. Step up. The new […]

Chris Blattman highlights the latest version of Janet Currie and Reed Walker’s research on a positive externality of the shift to E-Z Pass (PDF link). From the Abstract: We find that reductions in traffic congestion generated by E-ZPass reduced the incidence of prematurity and low birth weight among mothers within 2km of a toll plaza […]

From the Lex column in today’s FT: Tim Geithner’s extraordinary denial that the US is deliberately weakening its currency is a reminder that the [Hong Kong Monetary Authority] should no longer talk blithely of the “unparalleled credibility” of US monetary policy.

by Beverly Manncrossposted note from Annarborist The National Review: Christine O’Donnell Wants the Koran Taught in the Public Schools “O’Donnell stressed that preventing schools from the possibility of teaching intelligent design would violate the First Amendment clause that Congress could not prohibit ‘the free exercise thereof’ of religion. ‘He [Coons] forgot to quote [that] part,” […]

Tom aka Rusty Rustbelt Health Care: book recommendation Overtreated: Why Too Much Medicine is Making Us Sicker and Poorer by Shannon Brownlee I was able to spend some time with Ms. Brownlee recently. She is a scientist turned journalist. I do not agree with everything she says be she is most thought provoking and we […]