Mystery of dolphins’ speed solved BBC
Income Elasticity of Mistress Demand Greg Mankiw
Americans’ Food Stamp Use Nears All-Time High Washington Post
Familiar Trio at Heart of Citi Bailout Washington Post
Woolies on brink despite BBC offer Telegraph
Larry Summers as Fearless Truth Teller? Dean Baker
Synchronized Recession, Synchronized Stimulus? Menzie Chinn
Taxes and Christina Romer Kevin Drum. Effectively says not only does she lie with statistics, but does not lie particularly well.
To Buy Children’s Gifts, Mothers Do Without New York Times
Proof we are not in Kansas any more John Hempton
Remorseful Ex-Officials Decline Pay From UBS New York Times
Fed Risks ‘Spitting in the Wind’ With New $800 Billion Pledge Bloomberg
Fed Aid Sets Off A Rush to Refinance Wall Street Journal. Key section:
Rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages dropped by roughly half a percentage point to about 5.5%, for borrowers with good credit scores and substantial equity in their homes, say mortgage brokers and lenders…. the initial flurry of calls came from people seeking to refinance…
Predictably, the people who are not the target of the program are the first, and maybe the only, ones who to benefit.
Antidote du jour:
Richard Kline 
Posts
Rubin “”a dual role of providing strategic advice or managerial advice and also to work with clients. And that’s what I’ve done.” Washington Post link.
I have read that Rubin did not want to do anything “operational” but I understood his job was to “think” about risk. First, I’d like a job where I don’t have to “do’ anything, and Second, finally, finally, some critical questions are coming at the people who run the banks and Fed. I used to ask, “Did Hank Paulson know how GS made money?” Now I am asking, “did Geithner know how GS made money? And shouldn’t he have?”