Tag Archives: financial crisis

The Tenth-Ranked Quotation of 2008: Atheists & Libertarians

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The Yale Book of Quotations provides a useful service: It tabulates well-known sound-bites, but tries to get the exact quote and citation right, which is rare.    (P.T. Barnum in fact never said “There is a sucker born every minute.”    Richard Nixon never said “But it would be wrong.” Etc.)  The editor also compiles an annual list of Top Ten Quotes of the Year.   In the second week of December he released the list for 2008.  Number 1, for example, is “I can see Russia from my house” (carefully attributed to the Tina Fey parody rather than precisely what Sarah Palin originally said). read more

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Origins of the Economic Crisis — In One Chart !

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Every two years, Harvard Kennedy School hosts the newly elected Members of Congress for a three-day “briefing” on a wide variety of topics.   We had an excellent turnout this week: 40 of the 50 new congresspeople, from both parties.    I participated in a panel titled “Understanding the Economic Crisis,”  along with Greg Mankiw, Elizabeth Warren and Robert Lawrence  (on video).    

Trying to explain the origins of the financial crisis and recession in ten minutes, even to the extent any of us understands it, was a tall order.    But I tried to cram it all into a single slide.     Here it is:  read more

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