Guy Berger

Given the resurgence of interest in tiny cars, perhaps we will start seeing Fiats in the States as well.

For what it's worth - Miles's recordings from '55 onward were originally released on LPs and programming order usually makes a big difference. The music loses some of its potency if you listen to it in box set form. Guy

Not sure if I would personally give it 5, but it is a great album and you were not off the mark. Guy

That case could definitely be made. The Fillmore East recording from March 1970 that was released a while back is great, but despite Sony marketing as "the Lost Quintet" is not the same thing. Guy

Really don't agree with any of these statements. #2 and #3 are matters of taste of course but I really don't hear any similarity between Rivers and Coltrane. Very different players. A bunch of reasons. One is that it gave audiences a sense of familiarity with the material. The second is that rehearsing new material requires work. And the third is that groups that place a high importance on improvisation might appreciate a high familiarity with a narrow range of material rather than a smaller familiarity with a wide range. Guy

It's a good thing that Carter refused to institute price controls - they are an absolutely terrible idea. Guy

I'm not really familiar with the benefits of credit unions. What are they? Guy Two really, I think. First, they're run as co-operatives, so the profits (if any) can be returned to the investors (rather than a bank's shareholders) as dividends. I don't really see this as a plus (or a minus). Just different people collecting the profits. Obviously an empirical question - but given the typical effectiveness of most not-for-profit organizations, I am very hesitant to think that this is a sustainable model without any sort of explicit or implicit subsidy. Guy

I will admit to not being familiar with the rest of the tax bill, but the sooner the corporate tax is junked and replaced with another more logical tax the better. Guy

I'm not really familiar with the benefits of credit unions. What are they? Guy

Good article - the kind that makes the NYT worth reading. To boil it down simply there are have been two main problems with the rating agencies in the current financial crisis: 1) Incentives are out of whack in securitization since those who are paying the agencies prefer to get the highest possible rating. 2) The agencies relied on backward-looking statistical method - so when the underlying statistical process shifted they failed to detect the errors. Guy

Well, we know there has been hoarding of rice recently - so at least for that commodity, we are probably seeing a bubble. Personally I am much more sanguine than Krugman at least in the long run, which pushes me closer to the 2nd scenario and further from the 3rd. Consumption and production patterns will adjust in response to higher prices, and improving technology will help as well. That said the short run could be pretty painful as the world adjusts. Guy

A real shame, this is destroying what made this country great.

For years I said that if you just ignore the editorial section the Wall Street Journal was one of the best newspapers in the country. With Murdoch at the helm I doubt it will remain so for very long. I think you could make a strong case that it is THE best -- the only real competition is the NYT. I have little doubt that the WSJ's quality of journalism will deteriorate as Murdoch's influence increases. High quality journalism isn't his thing - he likes the "populist" style. The argument that he would not want to kill a cash cow is not convincing to me at all; if he became convinced that he could make more money by turning it into a comic book, he would do it. At any rate, if it's not true already, it's almost a certainty that within a short time span the Financial Times will be the best English-language daily in the world.

Probably - but as usual, they will in all likelihood be a playoff bust. The main question is whether they roll over to the Celtics or to the Magic. Guy

My understanding (which is limited) is the 2005 changes were only targeted at consumer bankruptcy? Either way, it will be nasty and I imagine that there will be some legislating to at least temporarily/partially roll back parts of the law. But I am almost as ignorant about politics as I am about bankruptcy law. Unfortunately I don't have a subscription - if someone could email or PM me the text I would be grateful. The first part of the article was interesting. Guy

I've made a bunch of Cannonball acquisitions recently and one thing that is becoming increasingly obvious to me is the strong influence Cannonball's music post-1965 had on the course Miles's music took from late '67 onward. I've read enough interviews, articles to know this was the case -- but as a listener this link had not been clear until recently (beyond "Joe Zawinul played an electric piano on 'Mercy Mercy Mercy' "). The live concert Money in the Pocket or a tune like "74 Miles Away" really hammer this point home. There's a mix of populism and pushing-the-envelope experimentation on these recordings that, while not fully realized, must have been intriguing to Davis. In some ways the music itself sounds similar. The Lloyd quartet was obviously influenced by Cannonball's group and from interviews as well as personnel it is clear that Miles was listening to the group. AFAIK he was not close personally to Lloyd in the same way as he was to Cannonball and I don't quite hear the same musical similarities. Anyway, just throwing some half-baked ideas into the mix and curious to see what others think. I guess I will have to pick up Domination because I want to hear what "Experience in E" sounds like. Guy

McLean's contributions are an integral part of why I like this album. I think it is better than almost all of the albums McLean would record under his name over the next two or three years. Guy

Chag sameach to those celebrating this holiday. For the first passover in 8 years, my trip to California to celebrate this holiday no longer includes a dramatic improvement in weather. Guy