J. Bradford DeLong's Blog, page 2297

Clement Attlee Liveblogs World War II: May 31, 1940

Clement Attlee:

The British People now realize the danger with which they are faced, and know that in the event of a German victory everything they have built up will be destroyed. The Germans kill not only men, but ideas. Our people are resolved as never before in their history...

Memorial Day: How Should We Remember Those Who Fought for the Bad Guys?

How should we remember those who fought for the bad guys on Memorial Day?

U.S. Grant describing his feelings at Appomatox Courthouse:

I had known General Lee in the old army... but did not suppose... he would remember me.... When I had left camp that morning I... was in rough garb... without a sword... a soldier's blouse for a coat.... I found General Lee.... What General Lee's feelings were I do not know. As he was a man of much dignity with an impassible face, it was impossible...

links for 2010-05-30

Paul Krugman: The Pain Caucus

PK: "[T:]he O.E.C.D. is saying right now is that policy makers should stop promoting economic recovery... this recommendation... seems disconnected... from the organization's own economic projections... he O.E.C.D. declares that interest rates in the United States and other nations should rise sharply... to head off inflation. Yet inflation is low and declining, and the O.E.C.D.'s own forecasts show no hint of an inflationary...

The (Bob) Cat Came Back the Very Next Day...

...and embarked on a stern chase of a turkey. It pursued it at a walk-trot for 300 yards before they disappeared over the hill.

I didn't think chase-to-exhaustion was a bobcat hunting thing...

Amazon Will Almost Surely Replace It with a New One...

Josh Marshall is distressed at the state of his Kindle:

Kindle Woes: I've written several times before about the uncannily functional Kindle, which, aesthetic discomfort notwithstanding, has pretty much totally weened me from physical books. But today I'm writing with a more tragic tale. More or less out of the blue, my Kindle's screen has decided to commit suicide. No triggering event, no trauma and certainly no note. The result is one side totally gone, the other side totally...

Percentage of Chart Which Resembles Pac Man

That is all...

The (Bob) Cat Came Back the Very Next Day...

... and a ten-year old Labrador Retriever charging uphill is not the most effective huntress of bobcats conceivable...

DeLong Smackdown Watch: Mark Thoma on Why the Macroeconomic Playbook Wasn't Consulted

Mark:

Economist's View: "A Missing Macroeconomic Playbook?": It's interesting that as we add the appropriate tweaks to modern models and then ask them these questions, in most cases the old wisdom emerges as the answer. I'm not sure that, in general, people were as unaware of this work as Brad implies. In some cases that was true, certainly.... But [many of:] those who did know about this work discounted it. They found a way to argue that we had moved on from old models for good...

Wingnut Republican Right Declares War on Illinois as Well...

Not satisfied with attacking the entire west coast and all of the east coast north of the Rappahanock, the Republican wingnuts have now declared war on Illinois as well: they don't know who is buried in Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery in Illinois, but they are certain that they are not worth a visit by the President on Memorial Day.

Wonkette watches the clown show:

Wonkette : Does Barack Obama Hate The Troops For Talking At A Chicago Cemetery, On Memorial Day?: [R:]ight-wing radio...

Winston Churchill Liveblogs World War II: May 30, 1940

Winston Churchill to BEF Commander Lord Gort:

Continue to defend the present perimeter to the utmost... to cover maximum evacuation.... [W:]e shall send you an order to return to England... the momenet when we deem your command so reduced that it can be handed over to a Corps Commander.... If communications are broken you are to hand over and return as specified when your effective fighting force does not exceed... three divisions.... No personal discretion is left to you in this...