The Way We Live Now: Wrong. It's funny how dumb people are some times when it comes to economics. They spend all their money. Then they're broke. Then they save all their money. Wrong move! I'm looking at you, Japan.
Stop griping about global warming. Sure, it's melting our ice caps, but that means that ships can steer a more direct route through the Arctic, as two German vessels are doing. Economic Darwinism at work, people. Yay! [NY Times]
We will need probably a zillion dollars or so to book her, but Sarah Palin is at least finally accepting speaking engagements! Just like Tom Friedman and other people who are very expensive and always wrong. First up: Hong Kong!
As we learned during the Bush administration, the only legitimate role the federal government can play in stimulating the economy is sending everyone in America a check. That's always fiscally responsible, too. So why do Democrats hate simple economics?
Is that good or bad? We just don't know anymore in this topsy-turvy world of bailouts and bonuses and government ownership of corporate monsters. But whatever—AIG pulled in a cool $1.8 billion last quarter.
The unemployment rate unexpectedly dropped last month from 9.5% to 9.4%, which everyone seems to be happy about. Which seems odd, since the percentage of adults without jobs actually went up.
On The Daily Show last week, John Oliver explored the difficulty Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is having selling his house. It was funny! But was it true? Geithner or his broker might have been lying a little bit! [UPDATE: Corrected.]
In the new issue of the New Yorker, Malcolm Gladwell delves into what really caused the collapse of Wall Street. His conclusion: It had more to do with cocky banker egos than it did institutional failure or general dumbassery.
Probably thinking that no one in America would be watching television on the morning of July 5th, the Obama administration let Crazy Joe Biden out of his cage for an appearance on ABC's This Week.
Lovable crazy blogger Andrew Sullivan is not worried about our new digital-age medieval society. He thinks it is probably a good thing that no one is getting paid to write words, anymore. In fact, he would write for free!
Those U.S. Treasury bonds worth $134.5 billion seized by Italian authorities from two suspicious Japanese businessmen last week are, alas, transparent fakes, according to the Treasury Department. And it was shaping up to be such a great story.
On Friday, noted blogger Mickey Kaus decried the Obama administration's attempts to prolong the inevitable death of shitty car company GM. No one even wants their depressing cars, he noted! On Sunday, it's the fault of "unskilled workers making $28 an hour who have bankrupted their employers."
Class rage at the New York Times! While the paper is on a ride straight to no-money hell, the execs are still getting paid big bucks. The NYT's not living up to its editorial page!
Just in case you had any remaining shred of a suspicion that inane Microtrend maker-upper Mark Penn might actually have some worthwhile advice about something, today he touts blogging as a good job opportunity. Ha!
Just when you think it can't get any worse in Chicago media—that's right, it gets worse! Both major papers are already bankrupt. Now the Chicago Tribune is cutting another 20% of its newsroom. Ehhhhh.
Eliot Spitzer really wants to explain the whole financial crisis, and he is pretty sure he's obligated to advise us plebes on what to do, but everyone just wants him to talk about hookers.
Some wacky Harvard Business School kids decided to write up a case study on undead Chelsea celebuclub Marquee, probably so they could get past the doorman. They found out Marquee's profit:
Oh hey did you hear that the Obamas went to England? They met the queen! And crappy presents notwithstanding, it was such a god damn regal moment that the world media, en masse, orgasmed.