Free Republic

There are two basic approaches to fixing our crappy economy. The first approach is called "austerity." This logic for this approach rests on the theory that our economy is crappy because our government is spending more than it takes in and that the resulting deficit is creating "uncertainty." Once this deficit spending is reduced, this theory goes, uncertainty will ease, and confidence will return. And then our economy can recover in earnest.The second approach is called "stimulus." The logic for this approach rests on the theory that our economy is crappy because consumers are unemployed and broke and have little...

With one day to go in the U.S. presidential election, Obama's probability of winning has reached 86%, according to New York Times polling guru Nate Silver. Betting markets Intrade and Betfair also show the President maintaining a strong (but less extreme) lead. These assessments come despite the continued release of some polls that look good for Romney. The difference between the national polls and the betting markets, some polling experts say, is that the national polls focus on the popular vote, whereas Silver's odds focus on state-by-state polls aimed at determining the winner of the electoral college and, with it,...

And now comes some news about the Facebook IPO that buyers deserve to be outraged about. Reuters Alistair Barr is reporting that Facebook's lead underwriters, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, and Goldman Sachs, all cut their earnings forecasts for the company in the middle of the IPO roadshow. This by itself is highly unusual (I've never seen it during 20 years in and around the tech IPO business). Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-bankers-earnings-forecasts-2012-5#ixzz1vbRXNlwU

Thank goodness that's over. The Facebook IPO could have been a major disaster for millions of individual investors. If the stock had "popped" to a truly ludicrous level on IPO day, millions of investors would likely have piled into it, hoping for further gains. And then, eventually, the hype would have faded, and these investors would have gotten creamed as the stock fell back to a more reasonable price. As it was, Facebook's IPO price was not truly ludicrous--it was just extremely expensive. The "extremely expensive" part was why I called Facebook "muppet bait." And it was why I kept...

In this week’s Rolling Stone, President Obama takes the cover story … again. The piece is a long interview, and it’s a gushing profile of Obama. This time, however, he steps in it by endorsing Trig Palin birther and The Atlantic columnist Andrew Sullivan: I read all of the New York Times columnists. Krugman's obviously one of the smartest economic reporters out there, but I also read some of the conservative columnists, just to get a sense of where those arguments are going. There are a handful of blogs, Andrew Sullivan's on the Daily Beast being an example, that combine...

<p>1. If you were a state governor who was eight months pregnant--and remember, Sarah Palin already knew hers was a high-risk pregnancy because of her age (44) and, according to her book, her baby having been diagnosed via amniocentesis as having Down syndrome--and you were scheduled to fly some 4,000 miles from home to give a speech at a conference, would you (a) give your speech from home via teleconferencing, using modern real-time technology, and explain to your hosts that the high-risk nature and advanced stage of your pregnancy made you reluctant to fly; or, alternatively, send the deputy governor to give your speech or (b) dismiss any staff or security slated to fly with you and insist on flying 4,000 miles to the conference yourself?</p>