One scientist’s hobby: recreating the ice age Associated Press (hat tip reader John M) Where the weird things are: Meet the pangolin, the mammal that thinks it’s a reptile Independent (hat tip reader Buzz Potamkin). It actually looks cute. Tuna group defies quota cut calls BBC. If we don’t stop eating bluefin, there will be […]
Read more...Taxes on top earners are the lowest they’ve been in nearly three generations, yet their complaints about the prospect of an increase to a level that is still awfully low by recent historical standards is remarkable. In my youth, if someone complained much about their taxes, it was taken as a sign that they either […]
Read more...A hedge fund manager and I had a flurry of e-mails over the weekend, prompted by various “The recession is over” declarations, particularly one lauding Timothy Geithner’s skills as a forecaster. I think our shared view is that to call this recession over is tantamount to calling an operation successful when the patient is tethered […]
Read more...→ Washington’s Blog It is now common knowledge that there is a potential domino effect of European sovereign debt contagion in roughly the following order: Greece → Ireland → Portugal → Spain → Italy → UK While some people have been writing about this for well over a year, many others have joined the party […]
Read more...Dinosaur demise allowed mammals to ‘go nuts’ BBC Take a sensible approach to air security CNN. Debunks popular perceptions of how much damage the shoe and underwear bombers could have done. Why is homeland security enforcing the nation against music downloads? Michael Perelman, EconoSpeak China Warns U.S. as Korea Tensions Rise Wall Street Journal Bid […]
Read more...John Authers of the Financial Times provides an update on corporate cash-hoarding. In brief, it’s getting worse due to probably-warranted executive nervousness about business prospects. As Authers puts it: Corporate chieftains the world over have lots of cash, and want to hold on to it. It is a critical symptom of a new Age of […]
Read more...By Paolo Manasse, Professor of Macroeconomics and International Economic Policy at the University of Bologna and Giulio Trigilia, Master’s student at Collegio Carlo Alberto. Cross posted from VoxEU. Is Italy the next European country to go? This column argues that the jury is still out, although the grace period will not extend beyond three years. […]
Read more...Time to count up the systemic implications of the Irish crisis, following up on some of today’s links and other news. First, the usual contagion to Portugal and Spain is now in full swing, propelled by another barrage of bumbling Euroannouncements: Weber announced that if necessary, the EU would increase the ceiling of the EFSF […]
Read more...Passive smoking ‘kills 600,000’ worldwide BBC In a Land of the Aging, Children Counter Alzheimer’s New York Times Israel police under fire for abusing east Jerusalem children Agence France-Press Correlation Does Not Equal KochNation Marcy Wheeler, FireDogLake Next Up: a “Flat Tax” for the Rich Michael Hudson, Counterpunch Australia’s Senate Passes Telstra Bill Wall Street […]
Read more...Francine McKenna is shocked that investigations in the UK have revealed that major auditors were told to make wobbly banks look healthier than they were. Specifically, they issue “going concern” opinions because they were told the banks would be backstopped. One can only assume the accountants were brought in the loop with the aim of […]
Read more...A story in Reuters signals that China is willing to soften its stance on rare earths. But of course, it has no reason to offer such a concession for free. The article indicates that China wants its trade partners to back off on their pressure on China to curb its abuses of international trade rules. […]
Read more...What Leading Progressives Are Thankful For New Deal 2.0 Let Loose the Coyotes? Chicago Embraces Rat-Hunting Predators Discover German vandals target Street View opt-out homes BBC Mistakes Still Prevalent in Hospital Care, Study Finds New York Times (hat tip reader Fred A) WikiLeaks release to feature corruption among world leaders, governments Raw Story Classified Papers […]
Read more...Bloomberg provided a useful update on the 50 state attorney generals’ investigation into mortgage abuses. One key development is that the AGs are treating investors as parties whose interests need to be considered. This appears to be at odds with the approach taken by Federal regulators, who are devising and implementing exams of various sorts […]
Read more...This story illustrates how far some companies are willing to go to preserve their bottom lines and assert their right to operate in an unfettered manner, even when that includes breaking the law and violating contracts. Huffington Post, via its daily political newsletter Huffington Post Hill, does some additional reporting on the very peculiar case […]
Read more...→ Washington’s Blog The Fed says that unemployment will remain high for years. Some Republican congressmen are trying to take away the goal of ensuring full employment from the Fed. See this and this. Conservatives argue that the relationship between inflation and unemployment – as represented in the Phillips Curve – is false, and therefore […]
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