Month: May 2013

May 29, 2013 0

Planet Rock

By News Desk

Tuesday, May 28, 2013 Posted by EliRabett Rabett Run Subscribe Rabett Run Posts Posts Comments Comments Contributors Eli Rabett Eli Rabett is a not quite failed professorial techno-bunny, a chair election from retirement, at a wanna be research university that has a lot to be proud of but has swallowed the Kool-Aid. The students are naive but great and the administrators vary day-to-day between homicidal and delusional.

May 28, 2013 0

Book Supporting Euro Exit Becomes Instant Bestseller in Portugal; AfD Update

By News Desk

In an interesting development in the battle to see which country is bright enough to exit the euro first, a book urging a return to the Escudo (the prior Portuguese currency) became an instant a bestseller in Portugal. The Wall Street Journal reports Idea of Euro Exit Finds Currency in Portugal . A book by a Portuguese economist achieved a small feat on its release last month: It instantly topped Portugal’s bestseller list, overtaking several diet books and even the popular erotic novel “Fifty Shades of Grey.” The book, “Why We Should Leave the Euro” by João Ferreira do Amaral, has helped ignite a public debate in Portugal about the real cause of the country’s economic pain: Is it only the hated austerity needed to secure European bailout loans, or is the euro?

May 28, 2013 0

Evolution of Spanish Public Debt and Pension Promises

By News Desk

Inquiring minds may be interested in a chart of Spanish public debt over time to see how the policies of Spain and the Troika are working out in practice. Evolution of Spanish Public Debt Over Time I picked that chart up from estrategiastendencias . My stab at a translation of text regarding public debt reads "Spanish banks are deluded.

May 28, 2013 0

Tol erasion

By News Desk

Richard Tol is quite busy trying out for his new career as a web based comedian over at twitter.  If there is one thing that Cook et al. are to be thanked for it is the meltdowns that they have set off at Lucia’s and Tol’s.  Eli has been having a bit of fun here and there, but he needs to share the glory with Tom Curtis at Brisbane’s Waters and our friend Willard in the comments at Rabett Run , Dana and many others. To be honest, and Eli is an honest Rabett, Tol has dug this one so deep that he has called out the Chewbacca team .

May 27, 2013 0

Large Risk of Instability in Japan; Rates Climb Even With Japan Buying 70% of New Issuance

By News Desk

The correct interpretation of course is "the risk of instability is huge". Please consider Haruhiko Kuroda says rates must stay low until economy improves . Haruhiko Kuroda, Japan’s central bank governor, said the country’s financial system could cope with rising interest rates only once the economy improved, as he laid out the stakes in his attempt to tame the volatile bond market.

May 25, 2013 0

Gradually-increasing gas tax that’s buffered against price shocks

By News Desk

Tweet That’s the answer. The question is what’s better environmentally and economically than the current situation of an inadequate gas tax and a price that swings widely. We need to increase the gas tax, a lot, to cover the economic externalities, decrease overconsumption, accelerate the transition away from internal combustion engines, and pay for infrastructure previously paid for by gas taxes on inefficient engines.

May 25, 2013 0

Unsolicited and sadly unpaid game endorsement: Geoguessr

By News Desk

Saturday, May 25, 2013 Posted by Brian Rabett Run Subscribe Rabett Run Posts Posts Comments Comments Contributors Eli Rabett Eli Rabett is a not quite failed professorial techno-bunny, a chair election from retirement, at a wanna be research university that has a lot to be proud of but has swallowed the Kool-Aid. The students are naive but great and the administrators vary day-to-day between homicidal and delusional. His colleagues are smart, but they have a curious inability to see the holes that they dig for themselves