There’s a legal limit to federal debt, which must be raised periodically if the government keeps running deficits; the limit will be reached again this spring. And since nobody, not even the hawkiest of deficit hawks, thinks the budget can be balanced immediately, the debt limit must be raised to avoid a government shutdown. But… Continue reading There Will Be Blood
Year: 2010
Has the Fed Been a Failure?
2013 will mark the 100th anniversary of the Fed. What have we got for our money? From Marginal Revolution: Has the Fed Been a Failure? Fair critique of the FED.
Few Afghans know of 9/11, reason for war
Afghans in two crucial southern provinces are almost completely unaware of the September 11 attacks on the United States and don’t know they precipitated the foreign intervention now in its 10th year, a new report showed on Friday. From Few Afghans know of 9/11, reason for war Wow.
Countrywide Never Sent Mortgages to Trust, Now With Help ful Chart.
Countrywide Never Sent Mortgages to Trust, Now With Helpful Chart. « Rortybomb Rortybomb is rarely an easy read. If you make it through you’ll understand more than the TV bobble-heads discussing the problem with the no-paperwork foreclosures.
Women In Hijabs NOT exempt from pat-downs
Recent stories on Glenn Beck’s blog The Blaze, Fox News and elsewhere suggested that the TSA would only pat down the head and neck of Muslim women who objected to backscatter X-ray machines. From Women In Hijabs NOT exempt from pat-downs This false story started in the Glenn Beck parallel reality should be debunked in… Continue reading Women In Hijabs NOT exempt from pat-downs
Edward Tufte is selling about 200 rare books from his working library
Edward Tufte is selling about 200 rare books from his working library From Edward Tufte selling his multi-million dollar library I’m expecting him to write the most clear, concise and informative craigslist posting of all time.
neodymium rare-earth magnet
(Image: Linden Gledhill/Cognisys) From Short Sharp Science: Best ever image from a neodymium rare-earth magnet Amazing.
The high cost of low prices
Whereas Great Depression America valued well-made utilitarian products and understood the inherent danger of bargain culture, Great Recession America prioritizes discounts at the expense of everything else. From The high cost of low prices Great point.
The Great American Cleaving
this is the first time in the history of exit polling that moderates were not the largest ideological voting block. They were trumped by conservatives. Instead of moving toward the middle, we are drifting toward the extremes. From The Great American Cleaving The problem is that ideology is easy and policy is hard. Partisan media… Continue reading The Great American Cleaving
A Mechanical Manifesto
it’s conservative economists who insist that people are always rational and utility-maximizing; liberal economists are the ones willing to invoke bounded rationality, animal spirits, etc.. The whole salt-water fresh-water split was about which you were going to believe: the assumption of perfect maximization, or your own lying eyes. And the Keynesians were the ones who… Continue reading A Mechanical Manifesto