Category: Economics

I’m reading Reckless Endangerment: How Outsized Ambition, Greed, and Corruption Led to Economic Armageddon by Gretchen Morgenson and Joshua Rosner. It’s an account of the collapse of the subprime mortgage market at the beginning of our current economic mess. The book tells the story at an odd level of detail: It doesn’t give a lot… Read more

Here’s something I never thought about before: It’s time to stop using pennies. Aside from its actual subject — the uselessness of pennies — this video is also worth watching because it’s a terrific example of how to make an argument. It’s clear, it’s concise, and in four minutes and 31 seconds I went from… Read more

[Update: I am relieved to note that the Google+ page referenced below below does not actually belong to Paul Krugman. It is a fake. The author offers an explanation, “hope it will enlighten many…” blah, blah, blah, but it was kind of an annoying stunt. It’s true that Krugman has said similar things in the… Read more

I’m really tired of hearing about the debt ceiling, and I’ve avoided contributing to the cacophony so far, but I just have to get this off my chest. It’s not so much that I think one side is right and the other side is wrong. Rather, I think everyone who created this mess deserves a… Read more

You’ve all heard about Donald Trump’s weird obsession with Obama’s birth certificate, right? Pretty crazy, huh? You ain’t seen nothing yet. The real crazy shit will come when Trump starts explaining his policy proposals. That’s not a prediction. It’s a memory: CNN November 9, 1999 Billionaire businessman Donald Trump has a plan to pay off the national… Read more