Richard Clarke, who served for both Democratic and Republican Presidents, including a stint as the cyber security czar for the Bush administration, denounced the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for plottingwith a group of military contractors to hack into progressive groups. Clarke was in DC speaking at a cyber security conference hosted by Symantec. … Clarke… Continue reading Richard Clarke on Chamber Attack Plans: It’s A Felony, They Should Go To Jail
Christopher Hitchens
Christopher Hitchens is undergoing radiation treatment and wasn’t able to write this week’s column on his usual schedule. He hopes to file soon. From Christopher Hitchens Sad to see this.
The Austerity Delusion
Portugal’s government has just fallen in a dispute over austerity proposals. Irish bond yields have topped 10 percent for the first time. And the British government has just marked its economic forecast down and its deficit forecast up. What do these events have in common? They’re all evidence that slashing spending in the face of… Continue reading The Austerity Delusion
The Tea Party Goes To War
If the Tea Party can support military action where there isn’t even a smidgen of national interest involved, they are neocons in libertarian clothing. Just as one suspects they are Christianists in fiscal clothing. They are the hard right of the GOP. From The Tea Party Goes To War Sounds about right.
The Limits of First Principles
You could have the government do nothing, which would mean there are no exclusive spectrum licenses and everything is wide open. Or you could have the government marketize everything, which would mean you auction everything off to exclusive owners. But either way, that would be a choice and in making the choice you’d be “managing”… Continue reading The Limits of First Principles
NPR’s Misleadingly Edited Version Of O’Keefe Interview
National Public Radio’s “On The Media” gave conservative provocateur James O’Keefe a taste of his own medicine by employing the “black arts of broadcast editing” to create an “utterly dishonest impression” of his views. From NPR O’Keefes James O’Keefe With Misleadingly Edited Version Of Interview (AUDIO) | TPMMuckraker Shout the lies, whisper the corrections. This… Continue reading NPR’s Misleadingly Edited Version Of O’Keefe Interview
The FED has a blog
The New York Fed’s Liberty Street Economics blog provides commentary on current economic topics relating to monetary policy, macroeconomic developments, financial stability issues, and regional trends in the Second Federal Reserve District. From Liberty Street Economics The FED has a blog. I’m giving it a week before the place is overrun by angry gold-bugs and… Continue reading The FED has a blog
James O’Keefe won’t let others videotape him
Hypocrisy, O’Keefe is thy middle name: Conservative activist James O’Keefe, who has gained notoriety for his hidden-camera stings of NPR executives, ACORN employees, teacher unions, and CNN reporters, gave a speech to a New Jersey Tea Party … From James O’Keefe won’t let others videotape him Of course he won’t let people tape him. He… Continue reading James O’Keefe won’t let others videotape him
Economics as a Science: A Bad Example
Yes, the old Keynesian Phillips curve was abandoned in the face of evidence. But while real business cycle theory has indeed been “invalidated by reality”, as far as I can tell it’s still going strong in freshwater departments. The point is that while economics certainly did have some of the characteristics of a science three… Continue reading Economics as a Science: A Bad Example
Triumph of the flat-earth Republicans
It is possible to understand how people might disagree that climate change is a threat to public health (we’ll all just start farming wheat in Siberia or northern Canada) or that humans are the main cause of rising temperatures (sunspots! natural variation!). But I still find it confounding that 31 Republicans are willing to deny,… Continue reading Triumph of the flat-earth Republicans