Rory Gallagher

I am sure even Chris Shiel would agree Rory Gallagher was one of the greatest guitarists of all time.

Enjoy

Around the Traps 8/3/13

Here we are again.
Last week Kruggers only starting talking about the Paul DeGrauwe's work AFTER Around the Traps was out.
A coincidence maybe but I am shouting from the rooftops Kruggers is reading Around the Traps!!!



Aussie, Aussie,Aussie, Oy, Oy,Oy

• The fantastic Ricardian Ambivalence on who-will-buy-our-bonds plus march-rba-slightly-less-dovish plus five-charts-on-q412-australian-gdp
• Via Nick Gruen self-employment-rate-falling-in-oz
• Sinclair Davidson wants a recession
• Samuel J needs glasses
• Grog's Gamut examines gdpaustralias-economy-grows-by-31- check out nominal GDP
• Matt Cowgill looks at labours-shrinking-share
• Kevin Bonham writes yet-another-western-sydney-article
• Mumble with its_not_narrowcasting and on_being_redundant

US

• Calculated Risk on -seasonal-pattern-for-house-prices  , housing-two-bottoms and zelman-nirvana-for-housing
• Mike Konzal on its-alberto-alesinas-world-and-were-all-just-unemployed-it
• Kruggers and the-life-expectancy-zombie
• Well Canada but Nick Rowe asks why-dont-we-have-disinflation-until-now
• Barkley rosser on is-obama-to-blame-for-sequester 

Europe

• Kruggers cockroaches-at-the-european-commission and of-cockroaches-and-commissioners
• Simon Wren-Lewis on why-politicians-ignore-economists-on-austerity and where-austerity-really-rules
• /is-olii-rehn-talking-to-lord-keynes
• 
  

General

• The always interesting David Glasner on keynes-and-hawtrey and on-coincidences
• Brad De Long on eric-rauchway-louis-menand-and-new-deal-denialism-in-the-new-yorker
• Interesting way on measuring-popes
• Noah Smith on stimulus-tools-policy-vs-politics also fight fight fight  blogger-smackdown-robert-waldmann-vs-david-glasner 
• Lord Keynes on the-great-depression-in-7-asian-nations, the-great-depression-in-22-western, the-great-depression-in-western-countries
• Menzies Chinn is still_in_search_of_expansionary_austerity

Statistics ( well mostly Andrew Gelman but not today)

• watership-down-thick-description-applied-statistics-immutability-of-stories-and-playing-tennis-with-a-net
• Nate Silver on in-supreme-court-debate-on-voting-rights-act-a-dubious-use-of-statistics
• the mediterranean diet

Wonkish

• Kruggers on why-dont-we-have-deflation
• Via Mark Thoma  the-intellectual-argument-for-and-against-keynesian-expansionary-fiscal-policyl
• Brad De Long the-current-state-of-the-macro-policy-debate-musings-on-paul-krugman-vs-the-three-tweeters-of-brussels
• blogs-review-the-minimum-wage-debate
• via Mark Thoma monetary-policy-alternatives-at-the-zero-bound-lessons-from-the-1930s
• Jim Hamilton at al on fiscal_tipping_ points

Voxwonk

• sordid-history-congressional-acceptance-and-rejection-cap-and-trade-implications-climate-policy
• towards-more-procyclical-financial-system
• spending-income-and-debt-responses-minimum-wage-hikes
• ncentives-avoiding-delayed-sovereign-defaults
• /policy-related-uncertainty-root-lost-resilience-eurozone-labour-markets

What Productivity problem

courtesy of alan kohler

Castle

Last weekend my wife took the boys to her mother's at Blayney. I couldn't go as the game I was umpiring hadn't been called off at the time.

I watched some Castle episodes.

I have said previously the acting and writing is first class so here i give evidence to that fact.

She is very strait laced since her mother was murdered.It has taken over her life and thus she is a very good detective.

He is still the multi-millionaire playboy yet to grow up.

In this scene she is almost sneering to start with. Castle shows he has substance and withdraws when he sees how vulnerable she is. She starts to have doubts about her original judgement of him.

Watch this and her facial expressions. It is really very good.  ( She is smoking hot with her longer wavy hair but I prefer her like this. She is merely attractive. Very tough but vulnerable.

This is the very last scene of Series two. They all want Beckett to get together with Castle. She has changed since Castle came on board and they think it would be great for her to now have some happiness given her history BUT fate deems otherwise.

It is a very sad scene because of the facial expressions of the group. the haunting song in the background ( into the blue by Sarah Jackson- Holman, I should add after listening to the lyrics how very appropriate) and by Beckett's facial impressions and voice.

I love this series.

Postscript
I have been asked to elaborate a bit more on this series by a friend ( female) who got tearful at the second scene.

As I said Castle is a multi- millionaire crime writer who is still a boy i.e quite irresponsible. He also has wrtier's block. A crime is committed which looks like just like ones he has written about. In short he teams up with Beckett  to find the killer. At the end of all this he realises he has found his new subject. Detective Kate Beckett.

As time goes on it is clear Castle changes. He originally is a  a person who thinks outside the box in assisting to solve crimes, however as times goes by he becomes responsible whilst still being fun.

She gradually changes as well and begins to enjoy life.
The scene above has her realising how important Castle is in her life but she has made her move too late.
(Isn't the music appropriate and fantastic.)

This is the end of Series 2. The writers are superb and the acting ,as you can see, is as well.

One minor criticism . Beckett is clearly an introvert but every so often they make her an extrovert.

The ALP Government does not deserve sympathy

I am sick to death with people who wish to make up excuses for the present Government.

As this is a rant I am no particular order going to show that they do not deserve sympathy.
The Government helped Australia avoid a recession from the GFC . Other nations either had a recession or depression. The Opposition at the time promised to do something similar but using different policies ( as I have elaborated here.) Add to that the blatant lies the Opposition told about the cost of their policies and the government should be a mile ahead in terms of better economic manager. The Kouk has written some good stuff here  and here.  Why has no-one said any of this?


As we observed  previously the policy on insulating homes was actually reasonably good.( Note the comments sections. See how dyslexic they get.). BER is even better. Critics  put up a figure that they believe the government is being over-charged without realising it is cheaper than the average cost of schoolrooms etc built.

The Government should have realised by now that government is about policy, selling those policies and criticising different policies to theirs.

In short this present mob couldn't sell a cold beer on a hot day. They can't even perform a proper defence of good policy. Essential polling has over 30% of people believe interest rates are now higher than when the government came to office! That in essence tells you everything about the Government.

Tony Abbott went overboard on criticism of the ETS. . He claimed the ETS would have a larger impact on the economy than the GST. What did they say?
The ETS was NO different that the deal between the Government and Opposition. No-one called that a carbon tax. Why in heavern's name did they call the present ETS a carbon tax?

This is only very brief but it shows a Government which has bad staff and Ministers who cannot explain anything. Add to this an inability to explain why they got rid of  Rudd and you have little reason to vote for them.

Classical economics finest hour

In Germany the name Bruning is not as wellknown as Hitler.

The reason for this is that the policies he implemented via the classical textbook and as advocated by such luminaries as Hayek made Germany worse.

The Nazi party went from an asterisk in parliament to dominating it as you can see  here



courtesy of Alan Kohler courtesy of Lombard Street.

Friedman thought it mad and Hayek actually said he was wrong around 1936 I think.
Austerity brought on at the wrong time brings disastrous consequences.

Coldplay

Coldplay is my oldest son's favourite group.
I do like this song.

I'm told they sing it in their encore like here.