Robert Waldmann A good sign of a totally bogus argument is reliance on contradictory presumptions of fact. When one is simply wrong, one can often make a convincing argument by inventing facts. When one is being absurd, one can fall into the temptation to invent inconsistent facts. In this article in the Washington Post Ceci […]

rdan I found this saying over at Oildrum in the comments on a post about asset deflation and price inflation through the rise in prices for oil and some other commodities instead of money/interest rate centered thinking. “People don’t change when they see the light; they change when they feel the heat.” (source unknown) Add […]

rdan Americas Program, Center for International Policy provided a translation of news from Peru, in relation to the working of the recently signed free trade agreement (Jan. 16, 2009) and effective Feb.1, 2009. Three MI-17 helicopters took off from the base of the National Police in El Milagro at six in the morning of Friday, […]

Some blogs suggest a topic when posting open threads. Should this be tried? And who has a list? Of course, some should simply be open.

With today’s (well, yesterday’s) five closings, the total of failings of U.S. banks since March of last year to 69. Of those, slightly more than 20% (14) are from the state of Georgia. Excepting the much larger California, there have been more failings in Georgia than in any two other states combined. Also as a […]

rdan Reader Jack sends this link to Michael Jackson’s death: This is the best commentary on Michael Jackson that you’re likely to read. That’s only because it’s not written by a member of the media, but a well educated and well intentioned person instead. From: Informed Comment by Juan Cole: Michael Jackson’s sad death at […]

Our findings do not provide much support for the usefulness of monetary aggregates in forecasting inflation. See more at the St. Louis Fed. Did building realistic macroeconomic models just get a touch more difficult?

When I first heard that Michael Jackson died, I thought immediately of Chuck Sullivan. I met him once, probably in the early 1990s, after his sponsorship of The Jacksons’s Victory tour savaged his fortune. Unlike the other Moguls I Have Seen, it seemed his reversal of fortune impacted his mood. (More likely, I just caught […]

Dear Barry: The need for posts such as this one recurs because the large majority of economists are idiots. (Multiple exceptions noted—but not enough to change the truth of the initial statement.) As the regulatory reform report notes (quoted by PK at the last link above): In fact, enforcement of CRA was weakened during the […]