There have been all sorts of calculations purporting to show that the renminbi isnt really undervalued, or at least not by much. But if the renminbi isnt deeply undervalued, why has China had to buy around $1 billion a day of foreign currency to keep it from rising? The effect of this currency undervaluation is… Continue reading The Renminbi Runaround
Category: Uncategorized
Missouri farmer calls Democrats “party of parasites”
The Raytown farmer who posted a sign on a semi-truck trailer accusing Democrats of being the Party of Parasites received more than $1 million in federal crop subsidies since 1995. From Missouri farmer calls Democrats “party of parasites” This doesn’t surprise me one bit. In practice most people use terms like Socialism, Fascism etc to… Continue reading Missouri farmer calls Democrats “party of parasites”
Dr. Paul: Not board-certified
Libertarian ideology rejects most of the modern regulatory systems that protect consumers, because everyone should be responsible for determining whether the hamburger contains E. coli on his own. But does that do-it-yourself dogma apply to the regulation of medicine, too? If you’re Dr. Rand Paul, practicing ophthalmologist, the answer is emphatically yes. From Dr. Paul:… Continue reading Dr. Paul: Not board-certified
Oy, Canada – Paul Krugman Blog
I do feel a sense of despair here. Ever since the crisis began, some of us have been trying to get across the point that you have to be very careful with your historical precedents, that things work very differently when you have a synchronized severe financial crisis, with interest rates near zero everywhere. And… Continue reading Oy, Canada – Paul Krugman Blog
Evolution – Eschaton
Evolution We don’t torture. Enhanced interrogation is not torture. A few bad apples tortured. Expert interrogators tortured. The president ordered torture and he’d do it again. From Eschaton by Atrios Nothing more needs to be said.
Down The Memory Hole
Basically, US postwar economic history falls into two parts: an era of high taxes on the rich and extensive regulation, during which living standards experienced extraordinary growth; and an era of low taxes on the rich and deregulation, during which living standards for most Americans rose fitfully at best. From Down The Memory Hole –… Continue reading Down The Memory Hole
The Principles of Rand Paul
No ideology survives the collision with real-world politics perfectly intact. General principles have to bend to accommodate the complexities of history, and justice is sometimes better served by compromise than by zealous intellectual consistency. This was all that Rand Paul needed to admit, after his victory in Kentuckys Republican Senate primary, when NPR and Rachel… Continue reading The Principles of Rand Paul
Andrew Wakefield Has Given 4,000 Brits The Measles
The decade-plus long vacctivist scare that followed resulted in vaccination rates dropping significantly in the UK, which is followed by a spike in measles cases. Though I’m sure Wakefield’s supporters will claim these two things are just a coincidence. Andrew Wakefield Has Given 4,000 Brits The Measles – Daddy Types Great blog post on the… Continue reading Andrew Wakefield Has Given 4,000 Brits The Measles
The Beauty of Diversity, and Sea Slugs
In the Philippines, Terry Gosliner of the California Academy of Sciences prepares for a week of diving to study nudibranchs, or sea slugs. … one of the few places in the western Pacific where you can say that the reefs are in better shape now than they used to be. That is in large measure… Continue reading The Beauty of Diversity, and Sea Slugs
My Country, Tis of Me
What is most irksome about the Tea Party Patriots is their expropriation of the word patriot, with the implication that if you disagree with them, youre not a patriot, or at least youre less patriotic than they are. Without getting all ask-notty about it, I think a movement labeling itself patriotic should have some obligation… Continue reading My Country, Tis of Me