News from around the web: 2009-11-09
I am feeling fairly ill so posting will be light today. Hopefully, I will back in shape tomorrow.
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Chilling. Must-see video
- Former UK Ambassador: CIA Sent People To Be ‘Raped With Broken Bottles’ « Patrick J. Buchanan
- Federal Reserve Says Judge Erred in Requiring Bank Disclosure – Bloomberg.com
- FT.com | Willem Buiter’s Maverecon | Gold – a six thousand year-old bubble
"Because to a reasonable first approximation gold has no intrinsic value as a consumption good or a producer good, it is an example of what I call a fiat (physical) commodity. You will be familiar with fiat currency. Unlike what Wikipedia says on the subject, the essence of fiat money is not that it is money declared by a government to be legal tender. It need not derive its value from the government demanding it in payment of taxes or insisting it should be accepted within the national jurisdiction in settlement of debt. Instead the defining property of fiat money is that it has no intrinsic value and derives any value it has only from the shared belief by a sufficient number of economic actors that it has that value."
- Mirror closes final salary pension plan to existing members – Telegraph
- Public Pensions Face Ugly Choices – Forbes.com
- Editorial – Jobless Recovery – NYTimes.com
- Economists Seek to Cure a Defect in National Data – NYTimes.com
I have been invited to this event. Not sure yet if I can attend. But let’s applaud the effort to overall the government’s statistics.
- FT.com – Clive Crook – Obama has lost sight of the centre
- For brave investors, Zimbabwe could be the ultimate turnaround story – Telegraph
- 50 Apps For New Droid Owners | Android Phone Fans
- Gold Climbs to Record as Weaker Dollar Boosts Investment Demand – Bloomberg.com
- Sir Alex Ferguson to avoid FA charge for Chelsea referee comments |Football |guardian.co.uk
Sir Alex is a menace and should face FA charges for this.
- Advanta files for bankruptcy protection | Reuters
- Cambridge Runs Amok – Forbes.com
- Abschluss-Doku des gescheiterten Opel-Verkaufs Blick Log
- The Becker-Posner Blog: Productivity and Unemployment–Posner
Productivity gains that result from job cuts and recession are not the same as those that result from technological improvements.
- I’m doing ‘God’s work’. Meet Mr Goldman Sachs – Times Online
- Lieberman Says Again He’ll Join Filibuster — Political Wire
- Short Seller: Dump Munis – Current Yield – Tom Sullivan – Barrons.com
- The Economics of Trust – Forbes.com
- Frank Rich- The Night They Drove the Tea Partiers Down – NYTimes.com
- Strong US recovery biggest threat to Australia
ASK economic guru David Hale about the worst risk facing Australia and you will get a surprising answer. ”It’s a really strong United States recovery,” he said. ”The V-shape that some people are talking about. It would force the Fed to push up rates quite quickly in the second half of next year, not from zero to 1 per cent, but from zero to 2 or 3; it would reverse the big rally in the Australian dollar and it might provoke a big global stock market correction.”
- FSA probe HBOS information accuracy – Independent.ie
- Hitlers barndomshjem til salgs for 18,5 mill. kr. | Eiendom Utenriks | E24
Distraction of the Day: Man drives car into courthouse
Ed – hope you’re better soon.
Thanks for the Buiter link – for me he’s a bit convoluted in places, but IMO his weak conclusion is nicely refuted by some of the comments.
Understand you’re a bit under-the-weather today. Be well, Ed!
I was struck with the fact that this piece on torture comes from Pat Buchanan’s site. Buchanan is a bit of a schizophrenic on torture, and on a number of other questions actually. Used to follow him closely but stopped after I read an article of his within the last six months which gave a thumbs up to the so-called ticking bomb scenario. But this kind of inconsistency is just typical of Buchanan. He’s railed against the war in Iraq for as long as its been going on yet endorsed and voted for Bush in 2004! Buchanan makes much of his Catholicism but it would be hard to identify much authentic Catholicism in his attitudes on torture. And here he flip flops yet again showcasing this piece on the gentle means our ruling class chooses to make the world safe for Israel.