Linkfest (January 30, 2010)

In other news..

Summers, Obama’s econ adviser, says despite recovery, US in “human recession” over job losses Manipulated numbers overrule human misery and suffering. Welcome to the ivy league vision of USA.

“What we see in the United States and some other economies is a statistical recovery and a human recession”. But the level of unemployment in the U.S. is disturbing, with one in five men between the ages of 25-54 not working.

In the Packaging of Loans, a Bust With Precedent Where did the roaring 20s lead to? Never mind..

The original wave of securitizations took place in the 1920s, when the United States went on the greatest building boom ever. Many investors saw how rapidly real estate prices were rising and wanted in on the action. The builders and brokers were only too happy to oblige.

The Tablets of Our Dreams Merge With Reality We are living sci-fi.

Today we have the iPhone, iPad, Tabletop GUIs and we will soon have “project natal” (xbox360). Once we fit a few more modules to the iPhone, we have a tricorder.. The best part is they are cheap enough for the average person to buy and use.

See this video: Link

A Growing Share of Americans’ Income Comes from the Government But most Libertarians and CONservatives will take the money, and blame poor colored people for their misery

As you can see from the following graph, while the relationship between personal income and GDP has not changed all that much over the course of the past six decades, the share of income accounted for by transfer payments has jumped more than 200 percent.

What happens when the world defaults? The one way out of this hole is a debt jubilee, mutually agreed or otherwise!

Taleb vs Asberger’s Syndrome Sorts

Note that the very same people who attack me, on grounds of political correctness, for discussing Asperger as a condition not compatible with risk-bearing, and its dangers to society, would be opposed to using a person with highly impaired eyesight as the driver of a school bus. All I am saying is that just as I read Milton, Homer, Taha Husain, and Borges (who were blind) but would prefer to not have them drive me on the A-4 motorway, I elect to use tools made by engineers but prefer to have society’s risks managed by someone who is not affected with risk-blindness.

Financial Services: From Servant to Lord of the Economy One picture can often say much more than a treatise.