A few days back, Nobel Paul Krugman, rapping on the modalities of modeling, took a side slap at conservative economists who argue that “America could only give workers decent living standards when it didn’t face competition.” If you follow the links, and take Paul literally—not always a wise thing to do—you’ll find that he’s saying…
Tag: Economic agony
Princeton history professors and Berkeley economic professors: which is worse?
Julian Zelizer is a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University and he writes like this: “Although President Ronald Reagan was mocked by some as an actor in the White House who followed his script, Reagan was like Gingrich in that he spent much of his early adulthood deeply immersed in journals such…
What does the future hold? More of the same
When I was a little boy, I liked to take baths. And when I was taking a bath, I liked to rock back and forth, causing the water to swish back and forth, my ultimate goal being to cause the water to swish back and forth so violently that at one point all of the…
The New York Times, Shamelessly Misspeaking
The NYT has a headline: “Political Cartoonist Whose Work Skewered Assad Is Brutally Beaten in Syria.” Um, guys, don’t you mean “Political Cartoonist Whose Work Skewered Assad Is Harshly Interrogated in Syria”?
Go us. The subtle joys of Drew Grant
OK, let’s stop talking about politics, Chinese aircraft carriers, and the war crimes of Barack “Assassinations ‘R Us” Obama for one whole day and see how that feels. Instead, let’s enjoy ourselves, totally, by wallowing in Drew Grant’s weekly recaps of HBO’s gorefest/whorefest, “True Blood,” for Salon, the latest example of which is here. Reading…
Adventures in Ankle-Grabbing
A man wrote this: “Over the past week, my colleague in Austin and Andrew Sullivan have been discussing whether there is a Rick-Perry-sized hole in the race. With respect to Mr Sullivan I side with E.G.; while Mr Perry might choose to enter the race and might do quite well, there is no sizable bloc…
Releasing your inner hyena
Over at the New Yorker, John Cassidy has a New Yorkerish (but still pretty good and not too dickish) profile of hedge-fund multi-billionaire Ray Dalio, whose zen Darwinist approach to capitalism has won him both hard cash and ridicule from the likes of New York magazine, whose earlier profile/takedown of Dalio is headlined “Pursuing Self-Interest…