J. Bradford DeLong's Blog, page 2296

Does Washington Care About Unemployment?

We are live at The Week: Does Washington care about unemployment? - The Week:

U.S. Treasury bond prices leaped again in May. By the third week of the month, the 30-year Treasury bond sold for ten percent more than it had at the start of the month, a mark of the growing excess demand for safe, liquid, high-quality financial assets. As economist John Stuart Mill pointed out in the early 19th Century, excess demand for such assets inevitably means excess supply of something else -- “something...

Winston Churchill Liveblogs World War II: June 1, 1940

Prime Minister to General Weygand:

Crisis in evacuation at [Dunkirk:] now reached. Five fighter squadrons... is the most we can do, but six ships... sunk by bombing this morning.... Enemy closing in on reduced bridgehead. By trying to hold on till to-morrow we may lose all. By going to-night much may certainly be saved.... Nothing like numbers of effective French troops you mention believed in bridgehead now, and we doubt whether such large numbers remain in area. Situation cannot be...

Jon Gruber Watches the iPad and Related Issues...

Daring Fireball:

Daring Fireball: Speaking of Guys for Whom Apple’s Success Does Not Compute: Rob Enderle:

Is it possible that all the bungling that took place in Microsoft’s entertainment and hardware division was actually sabotage? In World War II, Germany sent a secret “fifth column” behind enemy lines to disrupt defenses during its invasions. Corporations have engaged in similar activities, and a series of “mistakes” that were beneficial to Apple has me wondering who’s...

links for 2010-05-31

200 Years That Changed the World: Gapminder







Jo Walton: OK, where do I start with that? G.

JW: "I started reading Elizabeth Gaskell when she was described to me as a writer talking about how technology changed society when the technology in question was trains. The book that most meets that description is North and South, but what I suggest you start with is the adorable Cranford. Cranford is one of the most deeply...

The $3000 Shirt

Eve Fisher:

What I always used in my class was the example of the $3,000 shirt. 1 shirt ("poet style", with yoke, sleeves, collar) takes approximately 7 hours of hard work to sew.

To weave the cloth for that shirt takes approximately 7 times the 7 hours of sewing, i.e., 49 hours of hard work. To spin the thread for the cloth for that shirt takes approximately 7 * 7 * 7, i.e., 399 hours of spinning.

So, irrespective of the time either raising the wool (and the subsequent...

Nick Rowe's Two-Handed Stimulus Program: Expansionary Policy, Both Monetary and Fiscal, with Real Helicopters...

He writes:

The (mis-)coordination of monetary and fiscal policy: A commenter on my "loss of faith" post, jj, left the following comment:

So what's up with the new orthodox economists who think that printing money wouldn't work? Are they so orthodox they can't think of how to create money beyond the zero bound? Or because it has never been done in a serious country (kidding!) it is neither proven nor disproven to work, and can't be relied on? Or it's just political realism...

Oh S---! Oh S---!! Oh S---!!!

An attack on one NATO power is an attack on all:

CNN-IBN: Turkey recalled its ambassador to Israel and warned of unprecedented and incalculable reprisals. Two Turkish activists were reported to be among those killed in the flotilla. Ankara warned that further supply vessels will be sent to Gaza, escorted by the Turkish Navy....

Israel has sounded an alert throughout the country fearing rocket attacks by Hezbollah in Lebanon. The Arab League has called an urgent meeting on...

Gapminder: 200 Years That Changed the World

10-Year TIPS Yield

Look at this and tell me that the U.S. federal government is running up against the limits of its debt capacity...

Tyler Cowen: Your Inner Keynesian Is Missing...

Tyler Cowen's inner Keynesian to the white courtesy phone please...

Tyler appears to be confused. Or maybe I am hopelessly confused. He writes:

Is there a general glut?: Consider a simple model, in which uncertainty goes up, first because of the U.S. financial crisis, now because of Greece and the Euro and the open questions about Spain and how well Europe can cooperate.  I'm not saying that's the only or even the prime cause of what's going on, it's simply an illustrative story. With...