J. Bradford DeLong's Blog, page 2250

DeLong Smackdown Watch: Niall Ferguson

Niall Ferguson writes, over at the FT:

FT.com / Comment / Opinion - 1939 and all that ...: Economists really do seem to struggle with history – and sometimes geography, too. Brad DeLong needs to remember that the Financial Times is published in London. As far as most combatants were concerned, the second world war broke out in September 1939...

Touché...

I would point out that China and Japan by themselves are "most" combattants, and that they think WWII began in 1937, but that is...

Liveblogging World War II: July 21, 1940

Puppet Quisling legislatures of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia declare their countries annexed to the Soviet Union.

Are Libertarians Serious About Liberty?

Timothy Lee on how the conservatives snookered the libertarians:

How to Talk Liberaltarian: Nick Schulz weighs in on the liberaltarianism debate:

The original fusionist project of Frank Meyer and others was predicated on a belief that libertarians and conservatives (social/religious/paleo) actually agreed on some basic philosophical principles, not just shared goals such as opposing Soviet communism (as important as that was). Two of these have always been paramount: The...

Prometheus 6: An Open Letter To Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack

Can I sign on to this somewhere?

Prometheus 6:

An Open Letter To Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack | Prometheus 6: I am sure you know by now that your department has been had. You are not alone; the ACORN debacle was a more significant failure, in the number of people who lost their jobs as well as the far greater number of people who lost access to the services ACORN provided. This time the libel was caught immediately.

Hopefully you will rescind your acceptance of Shirley...

Fiscal Drag...

Paul Krugman:

Fiscal Drag: From Alec Phillips at Goldman Sachs (no link):

Congress looks increasingly unlikely to extend ay more fiscal aid to state governments, despite ongoing shortfalls in state revenues, and they have already let several other items lapse. We are therefore removing from our estimates an assumption of further fiscal stimulus beyond the policies in law (including this week’s unemployment extension), though we continue to expect extension of most of the...

Three Ways of Looking at Ken Rogoff

We are, again, live at the Financial Times:

FT.com / Comment / Opinion - Rogoff is wrong on debt worries: I read Ken Rogoff writing that maybe expansionary fiscal policy isn’t all that effective – we don’t really know: “Stimulus benefits of... deficits are not nearly so certain.... Aggressive fiscal stimulus... was reasonable as part of an all-out battle to avoid slipping into a depression... Today, the panic has abated and a more sober cost-benefit analysis is required...”

I read Prof...

links for 2010-07-20

Jeremy Singer-Vine: What Politico deletes from its articles without telling anyone







Jed Lewison: Reinstate Shirley Sherrod







Lord Skidelsky: Consolidators versus Stimulators







Nate Silver: The VERY SENTENCE before Brietbart's video begins, Sherrod says God showed her that it was all about poor people, not about race after all







...

Another Reason to Think Hard About 1937-1938

Derek Thompson:

The Scariest Unemployment Graph I've Seen Yet: The median duration of unemployment is higher today than any time in the last 50 years. That's an understatement. It is more than twice as high today than any time in the last 50 years. OK, you're saying, but what does this mean? Does it mean we must increase the duration of unemployment benefits to protect this new class of unemployed, or does it mean we need to stop subsidizing joblessness? Does it mean we need to...

Barry Ritholtz: No, the Housing Bubble Is Not FNMA's Fault...

Barry Ritholtz:

Global Housing Boom: [A:]n email came in....

Can you support your position, in a fast, easy way, why the US housing boom was NOT caused by Fannie and Freddie, or the CRA? I understand all the factors you laid out in the book — but I would like to see more evidence to support your view.

Well, its difficult to prove a negative — supporters of the “FNM/FRE/CRA caused it” should have to prove their case, as I did in Bailout Nation. However, I have always...

Yes, It Is Warm

From NOAA:

State of the Climate | Global Analysis | June 2010: The combined global land and ocean average surface temperature for June 2010 was the warmest on record at 16.2°C (61.1°F), which is 0.68°C (1.22°F) above the 20th century average of 15.5°C (59.9°F). The previous record for June was set in 2005. June 2010 was the fourth consecutive warmest month on record (March, April, and May 2010 were also the warmest on record). This was the 304th consecutive month with a global...