Is Obama Toeing the Bush Line on Terrorism?

Clive Crook of the Financial Times points out many of the ways in which Barack Obama's national security policy has disappointed and infuriated those both to his left and to his right. Recognizing the seemingly obvious--that there must be a tradeoff between security and liberty and that one cannot completely trump the other--we must accept both that the Bush administration was not completely evil and that civil liberties must be protected. The answer is, like the golden mean, somewhere in between.

Wordle: The Effect of Stress and Relaxation on Financial Decision Making

My senior thesis in graphic form:



(Thanks to Wordle.com)

SOBEaR

If the recession is driving you to drink, you may need one of these...

SOBEaR v02 :: the responsible robot bartender from j saavedra on Vimeo.

Negative Interest Rates?

London School of Economics professor and former central banker William Buiter expands upon Greg Mankiw's "proposal" that central banks should no longer consider zero the floor for nominal interest rates. It's an intriguing suggestion, though as Mankiw notes, much easier for professors to theorize about than for central bankers to implement.

The Perils of Optimism?

Joe Nocera had a great column in yesterday's New York Times examining the conflicting economic forecasts coming out of Wall Street and Washington.