by Bruce Webb Commenter and blogger Arne (whose largely SS Blog is found here) asked in comments whether it was time to move beyond “Nothing” and propose to policy makers some alternative plans to address future discontinuities. Which is a very sensible question, because if and when the Social Security Trust Funds (DI and then […]

by cactus Megan McArdle Knows Galileo Was Waaay Over-rated As many long-time readers know, I’m working (with a co-author) on a book that looks at a bunch of different series – from abortion to crime to the unwed motherhood – and how they evolved over the administrations from Ike to GW. Since both I and […]

rdan Well, there you go. And all that fuss for naught. (bolding is mine) Time CNN declares: Investors find it disconcerting to see the stocks in the huge financial institutions that are at the foundation of the global capital system trading up and down 25% a day, and, in some cases trading in the pennies. […]

rdan Michael Perelman reminds us of the propaganda involved in selling the way the bailout is happening. Brenda Rosser said in comments… This article appears to be thinly-disguised propaganda. An attempt to sell ‘the regulators’ (like Larry Summers, Geithner and Bair) as having a serious intention to rein in the excesses of the large banks. […]

Ken Houghton notes that no one has stolen my ID or shifted my sense of politics or the economy. Brad DeLong has been running excerpts from the February 2009 Vanity Fair “Oral History” of the Bush White House. Time and priorities being what they are, I didn’t get a chance to read the whole piece […]

Posted for discussion. First, relating to the discussion in comments to rdan’s TBI post, Annual Change in U.S. output per hour: And, for future discussion, the Relationship between Oil Prices and the Consumer Price Index for the past sixty-plus years.

rdan Too small to help is a pdf of a report by the Student Loan Borrower Assistance Project, and is worth reading.

Robert Waldmann One of Keynes’ concepts which never made any sense to me was the idea that there is speculative demand for money. As far as I could tell, it was a very fance name for the liquidity trap — if the safe short term interest rate is zero, money is a close substitute for […]

rdan Peter Morici has a take on the economy and measures taken so far. Some Angry Bears do not agree, some do. Anyone willing to tackle the question of good news within the year??

rdan Fire Megan McArdle is a gem that Ken and spencer have been keeping quiet from me. Now discovered. Does cactus know?