I can't believe how accurate this is . . .

I just discovered stuffwhitepeoplelike.com.  It's almost scary how well some of my friends (and I) fit these stereotypes.  Examples:

Promising to learn a new language

Taking a year off

Stuff environmentalists like

The Onion

Grammar

Hating Corporations

Arrested Development

Irony

And more.

Ross Douthat on the new Narnia movie

Good News for Narnia

Brad DeLong on Economic Progress

Our economic appetite

Very thought-provoking article.

Mr. Obama, Tear down this mint!

Recent Anti-Penny links:
How America is Being Crucified on a Cross of Zinc
Penny Protest gains momentum among businesses
For Teacakes, pennies make no sense

The Economist to PETA: People need meat. Deal with it.

Deep-fried kittens

Keep track of Obama's campaign promises

Campaign promises should always be taken with a grain of salt. They can be a good indicator of someone's priorities, but it is inevitable for various reasons that some things don't happen. Just the same, here's an interesting website that keeps track of Obama's campaign promises and their fulfillment status. So far, so good I think.

Bill Gates is a good guy

Video

Relevant and interesting links:

TPM: Mass Transit got the Shaft to Make Room For Tax Cuts
Krugman: Spending in Wartime
CNN: $1000 Homes
Walter Williams (Weird and kooky, but interesting guy, by the way): A Minority View
Times Online: Climate calculating supercomputer has a huge carbon footprint
The Raw Story: UN may prosecute Bush administration (Which is why the US should do it first…)
Freakanomics: Commercials help you enjoy television more?

Yay! I have high expected earnings . . .

Why Major in Economics?

Elders Uchdorf and Ballard on the inauguration

LDS leaders feel 'deep emotion' at inauguration

I can't help but love how German the Uchtdorfs are (I don't really know how to explain it . . . or more like emotion in general).

At Tuesday's inauguration, the Uchtdorfs found themselves seated next to an African-American couple. "When the oath was taken, this lady next to her (Sister Uchtdorf) just embraced her and gave her a kiss with tears running down," said President Uchtdorf, adding that the emotions he sensed over the two days were not simply the result of the massive numbers witnessing nor the racially historic moment, but rather a sense of graciousness displayed by a free democracy.

Anyway, I recommend the article.

Krugman the Buzz Killer

Shared Responsibility

Barack Obama, 2009:

What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility - a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

George W. Bush, 2000:

A hundred years from now, this must not be remembered as an age rich in possessions and poor in ideals.

Instead, we must usher in an era of responsibility.

Bill Clinton, 1993:

We must do what America does best: offer more opportunity to all and demand responsibility from all.

It is time to break the bad habit of expecting something for nothing, from our government or from each other. Let us all take more responsibility, not only for ourselves and our families but for our communities and our country.

Also:
Give me some men who are half-hearted men . . .
The Vanishing muddle

Bratz dolls cause body image problems

Bratz Dolls May Give Young Girls Unrealistic Expectations Of Head Size

I concur

Delong: The Possibility of the First Normal Policy-Making and Politics since...

Krugman to Obama: Don't pardon the Bush people

Krugman: Forgive and Forget?

I agree completely.

Beethoven in Peanuts

'Peanuts' Scholars Find Messages in Cartoon Scores

Why the third world needs more sweatshops (and Wal-Marts to buy what they produce)

Kristof: Where Sweatshops Are a Dream

Krugman on the government spending multiplier

Bang for the buck

Small-Government Egalitarianism

Some good thoughts here from Edward Glaeser which appeal to me. I still think this is a good time to get good infrastructure projects built. Also, tax reductions, even payroll tax reductions, don't do much to help the unemployed. I'd like to see an expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit to help those between "good" jobs, expanded retraining and education spending to help reconfigure displaced workers for useful work, and health care reform to bring down costs and make basic coverage more available (a way to create larger insurance pools, such as Obama's proposal to allow people to buy into a government plan, allowing the government to use its power to bargain with drug companies, and to not spend so much on the expensive and often futile treatments for the ailments of the elderly are good places to start).

Stimulus: tax cuts or government spending?

These posts from Mark Thoma and the articles they link to are probably the best easily-read summary of the current debate from the Keynesians (Krugman, DeLong, Thoma, and others), and the self-hating Republican Keynesians (Greg Mankiw). I don't see myself as ignorant on the subject, but I also don't pretend to know enough to make any kind of really good judgement call. Nevertheless, I tend toward the government spending side of the debate (oh, like you've never agreed with something you didn't 100% understand because of your personal ideological tendencies).

I do understand Mankiw's point that spending should meet a cost/benefit analysis. Our national infrustructure could use some work . . . smart electric grid and bullet train system anyone? How about health care reform?

Raise the gas tax

Thomas Friedman
Bob Inglis and Arthur Laffer