The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

‘Unexpectedly’!

“New U.S. single-family home sales fell unexpectedly in October and prices dropped to a seven-year low, a government report showed on Wednesday, pointing sustained weakness in the housing market following the end of a home-buyer tax credit.” — Reuters “Orders to U.S. factories for long-lasting manufactured goods plunged in October by the largest amount in […]

Debt Causes Collapse of Irish Government

Something here I can’t quite put my finger on: The Irish government faced imminent collapse on Monday, only a day after it signed off on a $100 billion bailout, setting the stage for a new election early next year and injecting the threat of political instability into a European financial crisis that already has markets […]

He Always Gets the Good Ones First

Last week, I got an e-mail offering me a review copy of CNBC reporter Michelle Caruso-Cabrera’s new book, You Know I’m Right: More Prosperity, Less Government. I’d planned to interview the author for a feature article, but guess who beat me to that interview?

Wall Street Drops Big-Time

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 178 points, the worst one-day loss in three months. The debt crisis in Europe was a big driver of this decline, but investors were also troubled by signals from China. In fact, it appeared that the market was pulling back everywhere — stocks, bonds, commodities — a phenomenon that […]

Keynesianism and David Brooks

Now that the election is over, we can return to our regular blogging schedule, and Tuesday is David Brooks Fisking Day hereabouts. Interestingly, Brooks isn’t half-bad today, as he mocks the presumptions of the neo-Keynesian consensus: The economic approach embraced by the most prominent liberals over the past few years is mostly mechanical. The economy […]

EUROPE IN CRISIS: Sudden Financial Emergency Strikes EU Zone
UPDATE: Götterdämmerung?

These headlines at the Drudge Report outline evidence of increasing stress on European economies: IRELAND ON THE BRINK… …TOLD TO TAKE EU BAILOUT PORTUGAL HITS PANIC BUTTON… GREEK DEFICIT MUCH BIGGER THAN ESTIMATE…   Is this it? Are we finally approaching global economic Armageddon? Give me a few minutes to sort through what this means. […]

‘As I Am Big-Busted and Like to Have Fun, Guys Are Instantly Interested in Me’

Arguably the most honest sentence in the history of the English language, although the the Englishwoman who spoke it is engaged in a deceptive practice: Enticing men into one-night stands in hopes of becoming pregnant: “All my friends have babies and I desperately want to be a mum. . . . “I’ve had a couple […]

‘Aggregate Demand,’ Again

What is it with this neo-Keynesian stuff? Back in July, Brad DeLong did his little paean to “aggregate demand.” At least DeLong is an economist. Matthew Yglesias, not so much: So if for whatever reason businessmen or politicians or media figures or anyone else feels more comfortable expressing the situation as one caused by “uncertainty” that’s […]

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