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

Proof the Brown M&Ms clause is not an Urban Legend

I don’t feel like talking about economics right now, so let’s talk Rock and Roll. The contract with Van Halen’s legendary “brown M&Ms” rider has been published by The Smoking Gun. And it was there for purely rational reasons: While the underlined rider entry has often been described as an example of rock excess, the […]

Overcoming Classism, a four-minute lesson

Ken Houghton Consider this a bright, cheerful post, as opposed to my next one. As long as TAPPED is talking about “classism,” let’s recall that the easy solution was Common Knowledge by the early 1980s: When I was in school I ran with kid down the streetBut I watched him burn himself up on bourbon […]

Maybe Not This Time…

…at least not so directly: The Treasury Department has turned down a request by General Motors for up to $10 billion to help finance the automaker’s possible merger with Chrysler, according to people close to the discussions. Instead of providing new assistance, the Treasury Department told G.M. on Friday, the Bush administration will now shift […]

Win the Nobel Prize,* they publish you on Sunday instead of Monday

Krugman believes people want someone who is “serious”: In a way, you can’t blame Mr. McCain for campaigning on trivia—after all, it’s worked in the past. Most notably, President Bush got within hanging-chads-and-butterfly-ballot range of the White House only because much of the news media, rather than focusing on the candidates’ policy proposals, focused on […]