It’s interesting to see how sellers position their cars for public sale. Every now and then, I’ll notice a car with a for sale sign parked on a high traffic street. This example, a late model BMW 750i, has been parked near a local coffee shop for several weeks.
Uwe Reinhardt on the health of the economy and the economics of health
My friend professor Uwe E. Reinhardt of Princeton University presented ECONOMIC TRENDS IN U.S HEALTH CARE: Implications for Investors, at J.P. Morgan’s annual healthcare conference on Tuesday, January 13 2009. The first half of the presentation (46 slides!) deals with macroeconomic and financial issues in Uwe’s inimitable style – equal portions of wit and insight. The second half deals with the embarrassing mess known as health care in the US.
VR Scene: The Statue of Liberty on Madison’s Lake Mendota
The Statue of Liberty reappeared on Lake Mendota recently, celebrating the 30th anniversary of its first visit. Visit via this full screen vr scene. More about the first visit, sponsored by the “Pail & Shovel Party”.
For Some Taxi Drivers, a Different Kind of Traffic
The tour guide’s voice dropped to a whisper as he pointed out the left side of his open-air taxi and said conspiratorially: “See that house? It belongs to Chapo.”
At the spot, where Mr. Félix’s brother Ramo?n was killed in 2002, in an infamous murder.
The State Department warns tourists about the drug wars.
The guide recovered his normal tone around the corner, well out of earshot of anyone who might be inside what he claimed was one of the beachfront hideaways of Mexico’s most wanted drug trafficker, Joaquín Guzmán Loera, who is known universally by the nickname El Chapo, or Shorty.
Although Mazatlán markets itself as a seaside paradise in which the roughest things one might encounter are ocean swells, it is a beach resort with a dark side — one that many enterprising taxi drivers are exploiting with unauthorized “narco-tours.”
Mexicans are fed up with their country’s unprecedented level of bloodshed as rival drug cartels clash with the authorities and among themselves. But the outrage is tinged by a fascination with the colorful lives of the outlaws.
I visited Mazatlan many years ago, during college.
The banking crisis as a foreign policy issue
Here is some simple background:
If we let A.I.G. fail, said Seamus P. McMahon, a banking expert at Booz & Company, other institutions, including pension funds and American and European banks “will face their own capital and liquidity crisis, and we could have a domino effect.” A bailout of A.I.G. is really a bailout of its trading partners — which essentially constitutes the entire Western banking system.
No one wants to say it, but essentially the Fed has been bailing out European banks.
The inflation-adjusted cost of the Marshall plan has been estimated at about $115 billion in current dollars. If we end up spending $250 billion on AIG, how much of that sum will go to European financial institutions and might it someday exceed the scope of the Marshall plan? (I do not, by the way, think that central banks ought to treat foreign creditors differently.)
More from the Economist.
Visualization of the Credit Crisis
More Evidence on the Power of Gratitude
I wrote a few months back about some intriguing research on the power of gratitude, showing that people who kept “gratitude journals,” (keeping track of the good things that happen to them and things that they appreciate in life) not only reported better physical and mental health, their partners also noticed it as well (including reports that they slept better). A new study shows that the positive effect of gratitude on signs of well-being such as mastery, relationships with others, and self-acceptance happen over and above personality factors. Similar to the study of gratitude journals, this study by Alex Wood and his colleagues suggests, that regardless of one’s personality, taking time to notice and appreciate the good things in life can help all of us. This strikes as me as an especially important finding given the difficult times.
Here is the source and the abstract for those of you who want to know more:
Obama Speech TV Audience Lags Clinton (1993) and Bush (2001)
For his maiden congressional address, Obama cleaned President Bush’s clock in terms of TV viewers willing to watch him speak to a bunch of stuffed congressional suits in the House chamber. Which isn’t saying much. But it is something for a new president to cling to, especially when you’re otherwise up against the sleuths of “NCIS.”
Obama got 52.4 million viewers last night (rounded off for those visiting the bathroom) in 37.2 million homes for a 49 share and 32.5 rating. In his last joint address in 2008 GWB got 37.5 million in 27.7 million homes for a 38 share and 24.7 rating. Bush did top Obama in 2003 with 62 million and a 56 share and we didn’t even have the Iraq reality show going then. (But it was coming.)
Bush’s first joint session appearance drew nearly 39.8 million and a 42 share.
However, Obama still lags the audience-drawing power of one President Bill Clinton. Sixteen years ago this week, when there were millions fewer Americans, Big Bill drew nearly 15 million more viewers — 66.9 million for his first congressional speech in 44.2 million homes for a 44.3 rating.
Dakar Rally 2009 Photos
An Email to Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin and Senators Russ Feingold and Herb Kohl
Dear [ ]:
I hope this message finds you well.
I am writing to express my great concern over this information. Please investigate and determine if it is true.
DoD Officials Vow Secrecy on Budget
http://federaltimes.com/index.php?S=3957786
If so, this is very disappointing and wrong.
I also would like you to investigate the amount of private jet use by elected officials (both government aircraft and those provided by campaigns and lobbyists). Dilbert has it right:
http://www.dilbert.com/strips/comic/2009-02-25/
Website and contact information: Tammy Baldwin, Russ Feingold and Herb Kohl.