Financially according to the Financial Times. Check out this interactive map of the states and their comparative rankings in different financial categories. (HT: Megan McArdle) addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Fasecondhandconjecture.com%2Findex.php%2F2008%2F10%2F10%2Ftexas-best-state-in-the-country%2F'; addthis_title = 'Texas+%3D+Best+State+in+the+Country'; addthis_pub = '';

The Markets have spoken, the best place to invest in the world is…Iraq! Now it’s stock and awe in Baghdad! As the Dow plummeted nearly 700 points yesterday to fall well below the 9,000 mark, the Iraqi stock exchange - where this broker was merrily keeping up with her booming business - was flourishing, buoyed by four-year [...]

Well, with any luck our voter ID law will weed out anyone not legitimately registered to vote. addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Fasecondhandconjecture.com%2Findex.php%2F2008%2F10%2F09%2F105-voter-registration-in-indianapolis%2F'; addthis_title = '105%25+voter+registration+in+Indianapolis%3F%3F%3F'; addthis_pub = '';

from Megan McArdle. Don’t look. I looked yesterday, but I’m just going to pretend I didn’t. addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Fasecondhandconjecture.com%2Findex.php%2F2008%2F10%2F08%2Fadvice-on-your-401k%2F'; addthis_title = 'Advice+on+your+401k'; addthis_pub = '';

New Deal policies signed into law 71 years ago thwarted economic recovery for seven long years.

I am often asked about individual bank stocks, especially JP Morgan. Generally my answer is that Bank of America, JP Morgan and a few others look to be likely survivors, but how profitable they will be I am really unsure. JP Morgan is a special discussion, because I point out a rather astonishing fact, they have [...]

I have argued in the past that the Federal Reserve’s policies may be helping in some ways, but hurting in others. Way too much borrowing and lending is running through the Fed which is drying up lending between banks. It also reduces the need for banks to find reasons to communicate and trust each other, [...]

Tyler Cowen states his basic views on the crisis. My response in italics: 1. Glass-Steagall repeal was not a major cause of the financial crisis, nor was government-induced “minority lending.” I agree on the first, the second charge has some validity, but only in terms very different than the typical charge. 2. We should use regulation to [...]

A new distressed debt leveraged hedge fund has been launched: Go visit the website for all their competitive advantages! addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Fasecondhandconjecture.com%2Findex.php%2F2008%2F10%2F02%2Fstrategery-capital-management-llc%2F'; addthis_title = 'Strategery+Capital+Management+LLC'; addthis_pub = '';

I was commenting to my wife the other night when we saw the trailer for “Religulous,” just what the Obama camp needs at the moment, something to remind the right, and especially the religious right, why they hate liberals. Bill Maher jabs his style of comedy into the eye of religions and those that follow them, [...]

Let us look at one of the ways that we are being panicked unnecessarily, and why incidentally we can help many of these financial institutions in the fashion I discussed in my post on a potential alternative plan. In my next post we will discuss ways in which we are not being misled, and why [...]

I do believe we should be doing something as a nation, through our government, to avoid the not insignificant chance of a total financial meltdown. I have seen several things proposed that I find interesting, and I will get into them and other longer term issues in coming days. I had hoped to address this [...]

If you support the Paulson bailout plan that is. The New York Times has coverage. The Senate proposal would cost more than $100 billion and extend and expand many individual and business tax breaks, including tax credits for the production and use of renewable energy sources, like solar energy and wind power. The bill would also extend [...]

The Federal Reserve has for a long time eschewed increasing the money supply directly, and instead has manipulated credit to affect the economy and control inflation. This has led to three important things which are in my opinion at the root of this crisis. Asset price inflation (at least initially) as opposed to broader price inflation. A [...]

I was not in favor of the Paulson plan if you haven’t caught that yet. Still, the pitiful display from our congress today set a recent low. First, faced with an unpopular and contentious bill which she feels for the good of the nation must be passed, we get a partisan and divisive speech from Nancy [...]

If they did, then they wouldn’t have banned short selling. People may have noticed that the ban hasn’t helped, and today we see one of the real costs. See, when markets collapse like today, short sellers dive into the market to cover their short positions, in these times they are often the only ones buying. [...]

doesn’t look like it’s going to pass the House floor. Update: It failed. The vote was 207-226 against the measure, with one member not voting, half an hour after voting began. Voting remains open even though the “official” time has expired for casting a ballot. There was broad bipartisan opposition to the measure, with 95 Democrats and 133 [...]

Larry Summers and Mark Thoma argue that if done right the bailout will mean we can solve this crisis and still have everything we want, tax cuts, health care spending and all kinds of other goodies. Larry argues: Just as a family that goes on a $500,000 vacation is $500,000 poorer but a family that buys [...]

China space mission article hits Web before launch A news story describing a successful launch of China’s long-awaited space mission and including detailed dialogue between astronauts launched on the Internet Thursday, hours before the rocket had even left the ground. The country’s official news agency Xinhua posted the article on its Web site Thursday, and remained there [...]

Dear American: I need to ask you to support an urgent secret business relationship with a transfer of funds of great magnitude. I am Ministry of the Treasury of the Republic of America. My country has had a crisis that has caused the need for a large transfer of funds of 800 billion dollars US.  If you [...]

It is not so much, And Time stands alone for a moment. Fall begins. addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Fasecondhandconjecture.com%2Findex.php%2F2008%2F09%2F23%2F40-years-a-haiku%2F'; addthis_title = '40+Years+%28a+Haiku%29'; addthis_pub = '';

Outside the Beltway“It’s quite possible, though, that we’ve simply created a culture that values sparing hurt feelings over individual freedom of expression.” addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Fasecondhandconjecture.com%2Findex.php%2F2008%2F09%2F22%2Fthe-big-lie-of-being-nice%2F'; addthis_title = 'The+Big+Lie+of+Being+Nice'; addthis_pub = '';

Stop the ACLU“but that pretended patriotism which so many, in all ages and countries, have made a cloak of self-interest.” addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Fasecondhandconjecture.com%2Findex.php%2F2008%2F09%2F22%2Fmore-big-lie-the-false-patriot%2F'; addthis_title = 'More+Big+lie+-+the+False+Patriot'; addthis_pub = '';

addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Fasecondhandconjecture.com%2Findex.php%2F2008%2F09%2F22%2Fremember-the-last-dire-warning%2F'; addthis_title = 'Remember+The+Last+Dire+Warning%3F'; addthis_pub = '';

Continuing the discussion on tonight’s podcast, one of the recurring themes of much of the commentary on our current financial crisis is that the cause is too much deregulation. Possibly there is some truth to this, though the evidence is rather vague. The most disturbing figure in all this is Barney Frank. “We need stricter standards [...]

Ross Douthat Even among Christians, there were disparities. While 36% of those belonging to the United Church of Christ, Sen. Barack Obama’s former denomination, expressed strong beliefs in the paranormal, only 14% of those belonging to the Assemblies of God, Sarah Palin’s former denomination, did. In fact, the more traditional and evangelical the respondent, the less [...]

Brutally HonestThe drumbeat - the phenomenon of the big lie.  It’s the drumbeat of the left. It is political, philosophical, theological, and social. It pervades every activity. It is post-structural, post-modern, post-everything in the parlance of the day. It is tolerant, diverse, non-judgmental, non-discriminatory, egalitarian, politically correct, multicultural, globalist, and collectivist. It insists that there [...]

Washington PostThis is not good news for consumers.  Reminds me of Phil Gramm’s “whiners” comment.  “Wall Street has lived beyond its means, but so has Washington. Both did so, in part, because consumers and voters on Main Street wanted it that way. They craved cheap credit to spend on imported goods, and they resisted tough [...]

InstapunditBill Whittle talks about McCain and Palin and their stand against a Legion of Narcissists and a Confederacy of Despair - the Liberal Left. addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Fasecondhandconjecture.com%2Findex.php%2F2008%2F09%2F20%2Fagainst-all-of-that-stand-these-two%2F'; addthis_title = 'Against+all+of+that+stand+these+two.'; addthis_pub = '';

You know, I’m a little tired of all of the snide comparisons of Ike and Katrina, in particular the comparisons of New Orleanians to Houstonians. Why is there almost no news coverage of Ike’s aftermath vs. that of Katrina? For the same reason there’s no coverage of the aftermath of Gustav in New Orleans: in [...]