Guy Berger

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

Sounds like some of this stuff might cross over into libel territory. Guy

The best one I've heard - That's Where It's At. 2nd best is the one with "La Fiesta.". Guy

Interesting article (though I haven't read the paper in question). I think the headline is melodramatic. The empirical evidence on free capital flows and their relationship to growth in the developing world is definitely mixed, but that's a long way off from saying that poor countries would be better off without any foreign capital at all. And some skepticism is due about whether governments in those countries will necessarily make good regulatory choices. Damn two handed economists...

Amen to that. Nobody's ever going to change anything, unless they feel it in the pocketbook. Agreed... up to a point higher energy prices are actually a good thing since they wipe out some of the externalities from energy use (environmental***, geopolitical). Given a hypothetical choice between appropriate taxes and higher energy prices the latter is inferior - but that is not on the table. ***Assuming that higher energy prices don't cause people to switch excessively to environmentally inferior forms of energy (eg coal).

Demand for leveraged loans has sharply contracted in recent months. Guy

One more thing to add - banning "useless gas guzzler cars" is a greatly inferior solution from a policy perspective since the actual amount of gasoline used or pollution spewed or CO2 spewed (depending on what you are concerned about) matters a lot more. A guy who drives a Toyota Yaris 60 minutes to and from work every day is probably guzzling a lot more gas than the dude who brings out his Ford F150 twice a week. Well, car's pollution is more then an "annoying behavior", it's a health risk and I don't think that pollution taxes are enough. I mean that I don't think that you have any right to pose my health at risk because you can afford it. Let's say that I can pay 2000 $ of taxes per years for smoking my damn fags in public places, would it be OK for you? Same for industrial plants, let's say that they will cover your health insurance when you or your children got cancers because of them, is it a free society? Welcome to the free world. Yes... if smokers all paid sufficiently high fees for the privilege of smoking in public to cover the health damage they cause to those around them when smoking in public, then I think that would be a reasonable compromise. The same with pollution taxes etc etc. Guy Actually smokers do it, if you consider the government's high taxes on tobacco, at least over here. BTW we pay a lot of taxes on gasoline too. The point is that it's not enough for public health and enviroment. It might be questionable if one agree to trade his health with money. Personally I don't.

Well, car's pollution is more then an "annoying behavior", it's a health risk and I don't think that pollution taxes are enough. I mean that I don't think that you have any right to pose my health at risk because you can afford it. Let's say that I can pay 2000 $ of taxes per years for smoking my damn fags in public places, would it be OK for you? Same for industrial plants, let's say that they will cover your health insurance when you or your children got cancers because of them, is it a free society? Welcome to the free world. Yes... if smokers all paid sufficiently high fees for the privilege of smoking in public to cover the health damage they cause to those around them when smoking in public, then I think that would be a reasonable compromise. The same with pollution taxes etc etc. Guy

Part of living in a free society means that we put up with "annoying behavior" like cell phone conversations in public places, people driving useless gas guzzler cars*** and eating Chilean strawberries wherever the hell they want to. I don't think smoking in closed spaces is equivalent to any of those since it does actually poses a health risk. Guy ***Let me add that I'm all for carbon and/or pollution taxes.

Too bad... it would be interesting to apply these results to a cost-benefit analysis. Personally, I dig going to bars without that shit making the air unbreathable. Guy

One of my favorite BN album covers. (I like the music too.)