economics

Book Review: Chasing the Sea by Tom Bissell

July 26, 2009

There are writers.  Then there are Writers.  Tom Bissell is a Writer. Lured by an incredible spurt of nobility (or stupidity), he decided to join the Peace Corps in college and was stationed in Uzbekistan.  You know how I always talk trash about Russia?  Uzbekistan makes Russia look like the Rockville Whole Foods by comparison.  Bissell ended up not finishing his stint, hightailing it out of the country after seven months (out of a two-year assignment.)  But then, five years ...

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Sands of Saudi

June 23, 2009

I recently read The Desert Contract by John Lathrop. As a novel, it was ok.  I mean, it had all the things a novel needs to have: characters, plot, and setting.  The characters were so flat I could probably inflate them with a helium tank and they would still collapse like failed Macy’s floats onto the Sands of Saudi Arabia, which are featured prominently in the book.  Oh yeah, I should probably tell you that the novel is about an ...

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Anna Schwartz Schools Bernanke

June 14, 2009

Cross-posted on Swifteconomics. Do you have a very sassy New York-born Jewish grandma?  Chances are, she is exactly like Anna Schwartz.  Except in addition to being sassy, Anna Schwartz is also a noted and very knowledgeable American economist, collaborating with Nobel Prize winner Milton Friedman on their seminal work about the Great Depression, A Monetary History of the United States, 1867 – 1960.   The book is very detailed and criticizes government intervention during the Great Depression and its aftermath.   You ...

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Book Review: Turkmeniscam

June 4, 2009

I don’t know about you, but I always love a good story about how the U.S. government screws over its constituents. Turkmeniscam by Ken Silverstein (journalist and fellow Jew) promises such a story and delivers with style. The subtitle, “How Washington Lobbyists Fought to Flack for a Stalinist Dictatorship,” says it all. The amount of corruption that Silverstein uncovers in the United States government is alarming.  He starts with the background of the fallout against Jack Abramoff and other lobbyists ...

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You Can Never Go Home Again: Reverse Immigration

June 2, 2009

The Washington Post recently had a great article on reverse immigration, where immigrants to the United States go back to their home countries because of the hectic pace of life.  I wouldn’t call Africa the promise land, mostly because I am kind of scared of the HIV.  Also, I just like saying the HIV.  Even though, obviously, not everywhere in Africa has the HIV.  Only the populated parts have (the HIV). The article states, He wanted a healthier lifestyle for ...

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