Links: 2009-06-25

• What I was afraid of – Paul Krugman

  As I also predicted, Obama’s stimulus package is now looking inadequate.

• Volcker Gets Less Than He Wants in Curbing Wall Street Excesses – Bloomberg

  The title says everything, doesn’t it?

• Our Crisis of Regulation – Richard Posner

  This op-ed is spot on in saying that the Obama reform agenda is premature. We don’t even have the benefit of hindsight and the reforms suggested suggest tactical changes in re-organizing regulatory structure when there was a complete failure of regulatory oversight. More is needed.

• What We Talk About When We Talk About Health Care – Drew Westen

  "Americans will only grant change if Obama evokes an emotionally compelling narrative."

• News from 1930

  Great blog which gives us stories from 1930 via the Wall Street Journal.

• Obama and ‘Regulatory Capture’ – WSJ.com

  "It was not merely structural problems that led certain regulators to nap through the crisis. The people who filled regulatory jobs in the past administration were asleep at the switch because they were supposed to be. It was as though they had been hired for their extraordinary powers of drowsiness. The reason for that is simple: There are powerful institutions that don’t like being regulated. Regulation sometimes cuts into their profits and interferes with their business. So they have used the political process to sabotage, redirect, defund, undo or hijack the regulatory state since the regulatory state was first invented."

• Staffing Group: U.S. Payrolls To Expand Three Months After Temp Turnaround – Real Time Economics

  Sounds like Q4 recovery?

• Too big to fail is too big – Willem Buiter

  A number of ideas from Buiter on how to stop too big to fail institutions from bringing down the house.

• The Future of Newspapers – Richard Posner

  A different tack here than Gary Becker. Posner thinks that litigating copyright abuse will be necessary. Yes, but it will do nothing to prevent the newspapers’ decline any more than the decline of paid software, Hollywood and other groups that have seen the Internet kill their revenue.

• The Social Cost of the Decline of Newspapers – Gary Becker

  I last subscribed to a newspaper in 1997. Now, I get my news in other ways. I subscribe to the FT and the WSJ online and these were the last ones I got via print. So while newspapers may die off, information is still king and good brands and good businessmen will make the transition

• Obama Bulks Up `Too Big to Fail’ With Steroids: Caroline Baum

  You have to love stuff like this from Baum: "the same folks who missed, or did nothing to prevent, the worst crisis since the Great Depression will definitely, absolutely, positively be able to anticipate the next one. Uh-huh."

• Obama’s Doctor Knocks ObamaCare – Forbes.com

  This is a must-read take on Obama’s plan. Very interesting.

• U.S. trade chief rejects Russia accusation on WTO bid

  Doesn’t it seem like trade issues are spinning out of control?

• We Don’t Have Nixon To Kick Around Anymore – Swampland

  But he kicks himself time and again with more revelations from these tapes.

• YouTube – How to EASILY GET Tethering on Your iPhone 3G + 3GS – YouTube Video
• Japan Export Slump Deepens, Casting Doubt on Recovery – Bloomberg

  Shipments down 41%. Not exactly what I would call recovery.

Distraction of the day: Weekend movie? Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen