TCS Daily : November 2008 Archives
Robert Mundell's New Wisdom
New economic stats on consumer spending and business durable-goods investment show an economy that's sinking fast across-the-board. Wall Street economist John Ryding expects a 4 percent drop in fourth-quarter real GDP. Of course, the Fed is pouring in new cash...
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Shariah: Tutoring the Times
Dateline: Amsterdam On November 18, The New York Times published a reportage by Elaine Sciolino on Shariah, or Islamic religious law, and its presence in Britain. The text was a typical Times product: superficial, inaccurate, and soft on Islamist ideology....
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Asia's Election Triumph?
In times of political and financial upheaval, leaders must not forget that economics is decidedly not a zero sum game - quite the opposite. Absent coercion, economic activity is by definition for mutual benefit, and the more people benefit, the greater...
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Taking the American Dream Off Carbon Fuels
The presidential election of 2008 found Americans voting as if convinced that the concurrent once in a hundred years financial crisis was unrelated to political ambitions to hasten getting America off carbon fuels. The collapse of housing values underlying the...
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Economic Deja-Vu
I just finished a guest appearance on the Mancow radio show. While I was on hold, I heard Mancow interviewing Henry Winkler of Happy Days fame. It seemed oddly appropriate that my segment on the economy followed the Fonz. After...
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Tarp the TARP
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has called for a pause in the financing request for the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP), halting it at $350 billion. (The original request was for $700 billion.) I think that's an excellent idea. But in...
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Paulson's Rescue-Plan Adjustments (They're Better than Obama's)
Remember that huge congressional swing-out two months ago over the Treasury's request for $700 billion to purchase at auction a bunch of toxic assets that no one wanted to buy? And remember John McCain's curious behavior, temporarily shutting down his...
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Dear Mr. President: Iraq Is Ready for Phase Three
First, congratulations. After a long campaign you have prevailed. The champagne corks have been popped. The confetti has fallen. Now the work begins. On the issue of Iraq, the question that should linger is not whether the Iraq adventure was...
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Fusion Energy: Europe's New Holy Grail? (Part 2)
Continued from Part 1... Not all senior physicists believe an early breakthrough in fusion energy is either possible or, given the prevailing global economic conditions, even viable. And when Professor Dunne, director of the European HIPER project gives us an...
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Fusion Energy: Europe's New Holy Grail? (Part 1)
A long-standing joke among physicists is that a breakthrough in pursuit of the holy grail of fusion energy is 'always just around the corner'. In October scientists in Europe formally launched the latest fusion energy project the High Power Laser...
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Never Give In
"Never give in--never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy." -Sir...
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Is Obama Swiping the Tax Cut Issue?
Voters seem to think he's the Ronald Reagan tax-cutter of the 2008 election. Wouldn't it be the height of irony if Barack Obama wins this election as the Ronald Reagan tax-cutter? His tax plans are severely flawed and his campaign...
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