It's a Paul Krugman column. I was worried Michael Jackson's chimpanzee had died. (Bonus art link .) (On the economy -- sorry -- I've got nothing to cheer you up with.)
Why did the rich vote against their own economic interests? Slate's Daniel Gross wonders: I've theorized that people who work in financial services and related fields have become so outraged and alienated by the incompet…
Harvard econ-prof Greg Mankiw offers prez-elect Obama 4 items of advice on economics. 1. "Listen to your economists... They will often give you advice quite different from what you will hear from congressional leaders Nancy…
Said Barack Obama , at his press conference today, emphasizing the economy and pointing out a number of things that need to be done immediately. Presumably, President Bush is paying attention. ADDED: There are 2 quotes that belon…
"... his gut reaction over Georgia—to warn Russia off immediately—was the right one. Yet on the great issue of the campaign, the financial crisis, he has seemed all at sea, emitting panic and indecision. Mr McCain has never …
WSJ reports: After a three-hour meeting, lawmakers agreed to legislative principles that would approve Treasury's request for the funds, but would break it into installments, according to people familiar with the matter. Trea…
"We need a commission!... We need to fire somebody!... Get me Andrew Cuomo!... I want ten more debates!... But let's postpone the one we've scheduled!... Do you get the impression a McCain presidency would be a bit e…
At 9 ET. Comment here. UPDATE: I do wish he'd been able to sell us on the plan with an explanation of how we'd be taking advantage of the market and probably making a profit in the end. (If that's the case!) IN THE CO…
This is, I think, a smart demonstration of leadership. McCain is suspending his campaign and seeking a postponement of the debate that is scheduled for this Friday. Meanwhile, speaking of leadership, where's our incredible s…
I've been reading and listening to people talk for over a half century, so it's really weird to have to look up 2 words in 2 hours. First, MadisonMan, he of the bird's-eye view of the Michelle Obama rally-ette, said :…
This study indicates that focus on the gender gap in wages is wrong: If you divide workers into four groups -- men with traditional attitudes, men with egalitarian attitudes, women with traditional attitudes and women with egali…
"While assuring the public and the financial markets that his administration will act forcefully and swiftly to deal with the crisis, he could decide that he must oppose the bailout as the panicked product of a discredited a…
A typo I just made while trying to IM the line "this shows we don't really have a democracy." The topic was how impossible it is for almost anyone to understand the current financial crisis, how disembodied it is fr…
So how can a real, American literary artist take a job as a creative writing professor? Asks David Gessner. [I]t’s hard to imagine [Thoreau] taking a break from one of his marathon strolls to waste three hours teaching a graduate…
A sentence that was just deleted from Barack Obama's website page about Social Security. Noted by Peter Bray, who asks: "Is he trying to stoke anxiety about his position on Social Security?" My thoughts: 1. Raising…
We Americans will get the leader we deserve, one or the other of two men who have absolutely no background in economics. We'll have to rely on whatever judgment they manage to apply to the advice their faceless advisers hand …
Obama and McCain try to get serious. Or at least look serious. That quote is from an unnamed Obama adviser. I love the implication that things could actually be rather serious, and we the people would still want our leaders putt…
This leaves me feeling shocked in retrospect, so I can't imagine how it must have felt to the Senators as they listened to Ben Bernanke's warnings : “When you listened to him describe it you gulped," said Senator Cha…
And so it begins: "I'm absolutely, fully in agreement with the argument that if pain is insufferable, then someone should be given help to die, but I feel there's a wider argument that if somebody absolutely, despera…