What Price Progress?

Good news, oh no wait it’s bad news. Bad news, oh no wait it’s...

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 21:54:00 +0000

Good news, oh no wait it’s bad news.

Bad news, oh no wait it’s good news.

FT FTW

Wagner's Tannhäuser is logical!

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 22:20:04 +0100

Wagner's Tannhäuser is logical!:

I want to see this Opera pretty badly.

Google and Grameen together in Uganda

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 23:12:56 +0100

Google and Grameen together in Uganda:

So, Google just posted a new item on their blog, (no, not THAT one from yesterday).

I think that little projects like this are what really makes technology worthwhile.
One can be fairly certain that the first question these people ask is not “Who can has cheezburger?”

Google OS

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 22:47:03 +0100

ben:

John Dvorak might be right
about Google Chrome OS.

Yeah, I tend to agree more with Dvorak rather than the more sensationalist posts I read about it from The Economist and TechCrunch (a nuclear bomb!?!)

As usual, SlashDot makes for very interesting reading.

I'm rationalising my current overspending by citing the Permanent-Income Hypothesis.

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 12:24:45 +0100

Does this make me good or bad at managing money?

I thought it was about time I sorted that out. Honesty is the...

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 18:07:00 +0100

I thought it was about time I sorted that out.
Honesty is the best policy and all that.
You might be reading the wrong tumblog for me. Try here

Benford's law of controversy

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 10:19:22 +0100

Benford’s law of controversy is an adage from the 1980 novel Timescape, stating:

Passion is inversely proportional to the amount of real information available.

via

I like this tongue-in-cheek law. I will be quoting it a lot!

Blimey - that’s a graph and a half! (via FT Alphaville)

Fri, 15 May 2009 18:12:51 +0100

Blimey - that’s a graph and a half! (via FT Alphaville)

jakelodwick: Foreign Policy: The Land of No Smiles. Must-see....

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 23:06:48 +0100

jakelodwick:

Foreign Policy: The Land of No Smiles. Must-see. Via onigiri.

This is more than a little depressing, but a must see. The world is crazy.

Does being around hard line conservatives make you more liberal?

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 21:37:47 +0100

I try not to swear on this blog*

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 21:35:17 +0100

but holy sh!t f@ck, it only hit me today just how much the UK government is borrowing, when I read this article today (Camilla Cavendish in the Times), and specifically, this quote:

“By next year the Treasury expects debt interest payments to equal spending on education and defence combined.”

That’s a whole lot of borrowing.

I’m scared. Especially when I read a little later on, that the public debt to GDP ratio isn’t likely to return to 40% until February 27th 2032!

* (I save that for my other tumblogs: More News From Nowhere and Throwing Nothing Away)

Google and economic statistics | Googling the future | The Economist

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 10:38:45 +0100

Google and economic statistics | Googling the future | The Economist

When you are holding an election to decide which voting system to use, which voting system do you use?

Sat, 18 Apr 2009 14:36:47 +0100

"as Winston Churchill once put it, “I have nothing to offer you, but blood, toil, tears and sweat.”..."

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 00:16:41 +0000

“as Winston Churchill once put it, “I have nothing to offer you, but blood, toil, tears and sweat.” Except at the Brussels forum, there is also a rather nice pastry desert.””

- Gideon Rachman on John McCain talking about Afghanistan (Source)

For anyone who listens to the Today programme on BBC Radio 4....

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 09:12:05 +0000

For anyone who listens to the Today programme on BBC Radio 4. Hilarious!

Better a fox than a hedgehog | Free exchange | Economist.com

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 02:21:32 +0000

Better a fox than a hedgehog | Free exchange | Economist.com:

The Economist’s ‘Free exchange’ blog calls Dr Doom a hedgehog. Harsh words. For the moment, the hedgehog is ahead of the foxes anyway.

Freudian Slip at the Financial Times? via naked capitalism

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 02:16:16 +0000

Freudian Slip at the Financial Times? via naked capitalism:

This is a bit like when Gordon ~~accidentally~~ said that he saved the world back in December.

What is the biggest problem in your life? | GOP Problem Solver

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 23:51:27 +0000

What is the biggest problem in your life? | GOP Problem Solver:

They must have all their best people on this, they solved my problem straight away.

I'm not an expert - a disclaimer:

Thu, 05 Feb 2009 10:12:38 +0000

This post, by Steven D. Levitt, over on the Freakonomics blog, reminds me to post some sort of disclaimer regarding my knowledge of economics:

I’m probably one of the least well informed economics bloggers on the web. I don’t want to pretend I’m anything but this, but I will be trying to stretch myself and my knowledge.

I don’t want to come across as an ‘expert’, and while I don’t think that I do, I still thought that it would be wise to take the time to post this disclaimer. In order to make this blog worthwhile, I will have to post my own opinions, which no-one should expect to be as well informed as they could or should be.

I completed a degree in Economics and Geography from The University of Sheffield last year. But, and I’ll be the first to admit it, I fluffed it, missing out on a 2.1 by the tightest of margins.

I’d like to go back to university, focusing solely on Economics this time, and that is the raison d’être for this blog. I need to maintain and expand my knowledge base if I am to have any hope of succeeding in this.

I welcome comments, praise and criticism, as long as it’s not unfounded (I’ll have comments up and running as soon as i’ve figured out enough html to implement it). My single guiding principle in economics comes from John Maynard Keynes:

“When the facts change, I change my mind – what do you do, sir?”

Give me some time, hopefully i’ll continue to blog as often as I can, and maybe, one day, I’ll be as well informed as some of the people whose blogs I read. Don’t hold your breath though!

Luigi Zingales

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 20:38:21 +0000

speaking sense as always (PDF).This time it’s regarding the incoming US Secretary of the Treasury, Timothy Geithner. Zingales proposes a plan to allow banks to split in to two separate entities, one with good assets and the other with bad assets. The beauty of the plan is that the toxic assets will not affect the bank’s lending any more. The only problem with this practical solution, which would cost little/nothing to the taxpayer, is that I agree with Luigi on the issue of implementation. “The “nay-sayers” will say it is impossible,” he writes. Surely passing a stimulus of $825 billion is more complicated than this?

N.B. If you haven’t already read Zingales’ plan B (PDF again) then you’re missing out; I think it’s the best idea to come out of this financial crisis so far.