I haven’t had time for blogging lately, so here’s something different: “Cargo,” a short film from Australia’s Tropfest 2013.
Best zombie movie ever? You be the judge:
ht: Wonkbook
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Zombie on April 8, 2013 | 1 Comment »
I haven’t had time for blogging lately, so here’s something different: “Cargo,” a short film from Australia’s Tropfest 2013.
Best zombie movie ever? You be the judge:
ht: Wonkbook
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Budget, Politics, Spending, Taxes on January 4, 2013 | 1 Comment »
My Urban Institute colleague Gene Steuerle says yes: politicians have gone too far trying to control future policies and spending.
Posted in Uncategorized on October 25, 2012 | 2 Comments »
Annie Lowery penned a nice profile of the Tax Policy Center in today’s New York Times: here.
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Budget, Economy, Humor on September 11, 2012 | 1 Comment »
Our buddy Merle Hazard — of “Inflation or Deflation?” and “Bailout” fame — is back with a new, animated version of his surf-music take on the Fiscal Cliff.
P.S. I should get back to real blogging soon.
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Art, Mathematics on February 25, 2012 | 1 Comment »
If you are a Godel, Escher, Bach kind of person, this short film is for you. Cristobal Vila presents Inspirations:
ht: Open Culture via @brainpicker
Posted in Uncategorized on November 4, 2011 | 3 Comments »
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Life, New York City on June 8, 2011 | 2 Comments »
I am walking around my hometown of NYC today, so this video seems particularly apt.
ht: kottke
Posted in Life, Uncategorized, tagged Emergency, Humor, Zombie on May 19, 2011 | 2 Comments »
The Centers for Disease Control offers emergency preparedness tips with a sense of humor:
So what do you need to do before zombies…or hurricanes or pandemics for example, actually happen? First of all, you should have an emergency kit in your house. This includes things like water, food, and other supplies to get you through the first couple of days before you can locate a zombie-free refugee camp (or in the event of a natural disaster, it will buy you some time until you are able to make your way to an evacuation shelter or utility lines are restored). Below are a few items you should include in your kit, for a full list visit the CDC Emergency page.
- Water (1 gallon per person per day)
- Food (stock up on non-perishable items that you eat regularly)
- Medications (this includes prescription and non-prescription meds)
- Tools and Supplies (utility knife, duct tape, battery powered radio, etc.)
- Sanitation and Hygiene (household bleach, soap, towels, etc.)
- Clothing and Bedding (a change of clothes for each family member and blankets)
- Important documents (copies of your driver’s license, passport, and birth certificate to name a few)
- First Aid supplies (although you’re a goner if a zombie bites you, you can use these supplies to treat basic cuts and lacerations that you might get during a tornado or hurricane)
Once you’ve made your emergency kit, you should sit down with your family and come up with an emergency plan. This includes where you would go and who you would call if zombies started appearing outside your door step. You can also implement this plan if there is a flood, earthquake, or other emergency.
ht: Alex Tabarrok
Posted in Economy, Uncategorized, tagged Economy on February 24, 2011 | 1 Comment »
On Friday I will be speaking at an event sponsored by Hamilton Place Strategies. It came together on short notice, so let me give it a plug:
Developing the Competitiveness Agenda
This week’s first meeting of the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness kicked off a national debate on the economic policies encouraging greater job creation and economic growth in the United States. The Council’s mission is to focus on finding new ways to promote growth by investing in American business to encourage hiring, to educate and train our workers to compete globally, and to attract the best jobs and businesses to the United States.
To contribute to the ongoing debate, we are bringing together noted policy experts and economists to discuss the key policies that will be most effective in achieving America’s economic goals.
Featuring
Byron Auguste, Director, McKinsey & Company
Donald Marron, Director of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center
Michael E. Porter, Professor, Harvard Business SchoolModerated by Matt McDonald, Partner, Hamilton Place Strategies
WHEN: 10:00 am – 11:00 am, Friday, February 25th, 2011
WHERE:
The National Press Club: Holeman Lounge
529 14th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20045RSVP here
My basic approach will be to emphasize the three key drivers of economic activity: a skilled workforce, capital, and ideas. I generally align myself with Paul Krugman on the idea of “competitiveness“, so if you hear me use the term, I probably mean it as shorthand for productivity. (Well, not shorthand exactly — “competitiveness” has more letters than “productivity” – but you know what I mean.)
Posted in Finance, Macroeconomics, Uncategorized, tagged Finance, Interest Rates, Macroeconomics, Recession on August 26, 2010 | 3 Comments »
Worries about a double-dip recession have spawned much economic commentary … and a humorous country and western song. So how likely is a return to recession?
Researchers at the San Francisco Fed took a crack at this question a few weeks ago. Their answer? It depends.
When they used a traditional model based on the leading economic indicators, the probability of a second dip turned out to be about 25% over the next two years (the blue line). When they dropped one indicator from their model, that probability doubled to about 50% (the red line).
That important indicator is the yield spread–the difference between the 10-year Treasury interest rate and federal funds rate. In recent decades, the yield spread has done a terrific job at anticipating recessions. When the federal funds rate has risen above the 10-year rate, the economy has invariably fallen into recession.
As I noted briefly the other day, the relative steepness of today’s yield curve (10-year rate about 2.5 percentage points above the fed funds rate) thus suggests, by itself, that renewed recession is unlikely, despite recent weak economic data. On the other hand, there are reasons to believe that this time things are different (usually a scary phrase). After all, fed funds rate has been pushed down almost to zero and yet the economy no longer appears to be responding. That’s exactly the logic that inspired the SF Fed researchers to try their model without the yield spread.