Simple doesn't mean stupid. Thinking that it does, does.

...instead it seems that business - like weight loss - is a subject wherein hope and fear inspire limitless gullibility.

The key reason executives are paid so much now is that they appoint the members of the corporate board that determines their compensation and control many of the perks that board members count on. So it's not the invisible hand of the market that leads to those monumental executive incomes; it's the invisible handshake in the boardroom.

A message to progressives: By all means, hang Senator Joe Lieberman in effigy.

The trouble with poverty, as an issue, is that it has basically exhausted the patience of the general public.

Republican candidates had to appeal to their base, which is by and large elderly white people arguing with empty chairs.

I've always believed that a speculative bubble need not lead to a recession, as long as interest rates are cut quickly enough to stimulate alternative investments. But I had to face the fact that speculative bubbles usually are followed by recessions. My excuse has been that this was because the policy makers moved too slowly - that central banks were typically too slow to cut interest rates in the face of a burst bubble, giving the downturn time to build up a lot of momentum.