Matthew O’Brien over at The Atlantic has a post explaining the conundrum that the Fed has created for itself with quantitative easing (QE): For the last five years, the Fed has been in the business of persuading investors that it can be irresponsible. Now, in normal times, the Fed is anything but; it’s boring. […]
No, really, he did make that argument — at least, back in 1997: Workers in those shirt and sneaker factories are, inevitably, paid very little and expected to endure terrible working conditions. I say “inevitably” because their employers are not in business for their (or their workers’) health; they pay as little as possible, and that […]
[UPDATE at end of post] Russian President-for-Life Vladimir Putin can show off his pecs and fly with the geese, but Russia is largely a world-power has-been at this point, even with its nuclear arsenal. China, though — China, with fewer nukes, is more dangerous, all the more so because of its internal problems (weak economics […]
With everything else going on — the election, the Chicago teachers’ strike, the upheaval and assaults in the Middle East — it’s worth keeping in mind the single biggest financial timebomb here in the US: underfunded pension obligations. This is, in my opinion, a more serious crisis than the massive unfunded Federal entitlement obligations for […]
96,666 jobs/month. That’s what the actual job growth has been for the last six months — much less than you might otherwise think. Here are the numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, showing the mostly-downwards revisions a month or two after the initial reports: March 2012: 120,000 (March report) revised to 154,000 (April report) […]
There are arguments about who first said Après moi, le déluge (“After me, the Flood.”) and whether is was meant prophetically (“Things are going to get bad once I’m gone”) or dismissively (“I really don’t care if things go to hell once I’m gone.”). I’m not sure it matters. I think both apply to the […]
I did indeed crash. Probably just as well, since it appeared to have been raining durng the afternoon, which pretty much ruled out putting up the new signs, etc. Instead, once I was sufficiently conscious, Sandra and I headed down to the Christmas Market on the lower part of the Champs-Elysees, both to grab something […]
France’s future is cloudy. OK, OK, cheap symbolism, but that’s the best kind, for reasons that I’ll come with eventually. Meanwhile, in case you’re wondering about the strange post name, “Tour Eiffel” is French for “Eiffel Tower”, and yes, we went on a tour of the Eiffel Tower this morning. We had gone last year […]
I did get two interviews. In two hours. Plus one bit of pungent walk-by commentary. I’ll chronicle the whole effort later, but here’s the feedback from today. Thomas — in his 30s, and looking like a classic clean-cut-with-stubble French professional — described himself as ‘not a typical Parisian’, though he never quite explained what that […]
And I’m awake at 0400 Paris time. On the other hand, I can hardly be surprised, since I not only crashed for about 4 hours yestreday afternoon, but I went to be relatively early (2200 Paris time) last night as well. Our hotel room (acquired using some of the bazillion frequent-stayer points I’ve accumulated at […]
