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Like a True Superstar, Bernanke Keeps Breaking His Own Records

Don’t worry, kids, Big Ben constantly assures us he has all the tools he needs to withdraw any excess liquidity when the time is right. And if you can’t trust the Federal Reserve chairman, who(m) can you trust?

Can Somebody Tell Me What Happened in Ecuador?

From Krugman, who is quoting from here: In January 2009 Ecuador announced a series of stiff import restrictions on 630 tariff lines, affecting 8.7 percent of its ‘tariff universe’ and 23 percent of the volume of imports. Duties were raised on 369 tariff lines and quota restrictions imposed on 271 others for a one-year period. […]

More Luv From San Diego

UPDATE below… In response to this op ed, another love letter: I have to remind you of a famous quote I will paraphrase for you, “just because you think something you write is a fact, doesn’t make it a fact”. In your column titled “Is the Recession Really Ending?” You do exactly what every right […]

CBO Testimony Misleads on Cost of Cap-and-Trade

A team effort but I had a lot to do with this new IER blog post, regarding CBO Director Elmendorf’s recent testimony on the economic impacts of carbon dioxide legislation. Some of the points will be familiar to long-time readers, but one new thing I verified–after emailing with a CBO economist–is that the distinction between […]

Alan King Not Familiar With the Pronunciation of "Mises"

Stephan Kinsella passes along this incredibly unexpected video. In the midst of a pretty funny clip, Alan King reads from the obituary of Ludwig von Mises (around 3:00). Of course, King is committing a basic fallacy in trying to prove that women live longer than men, but I think he probably knows this.

If I Lived in England I Might Buy a TV Again

This is a neat game show clip I picked up from Scott Sumner. I will post my commentary (from Scott’s thread) as the first comment here. You should watch the clip first.

Former Fed Official Calls for Audit

William Barnett–who’s not the Fed-watching William Barnett of Loyola College, I checked–calls for an audit of the Fed in the NY Times (HT2 Jeff Hummel). Barnett made me feel less of an idiot when he wrote: Consider the data the Fed presented last year on nonborrowed reserves. Nonborrowed reserves are total bank reserves minus money […]

British Satirists Discuss Banks, Bailouts, and Bonuses

The translucent von Pepe sends this link. The video is 9:52 long, and when I clicked it, I thought I’d just watch a few seconds. I kept thinking that until about 6:00, when I realized I was going to just watch the whole thing.