February 28, 2009

Y2K, the Credit Crisis, and the Rosencrantz Fallacy

Back in the late 1990s I was a public equity skeptic -- I wrote a widely-cited piece in the Wall Street Journal calling the Internet bubble a bubble. I was also a Y2K skeptic, writing that it was unlikely to...

Diversions: Adam Savage on Obsession

As a self-confessed obsessive personality (but you knew that, right?) I enjoyed this Adam "Mythbusters" Savage talk on the nature of some obsessions in his own life. It revolves, mostly, around Dodo birds and the Maltese Falcon....

Best Practices in the End of the World

I think I mostly just dig the ironies in the title, “Social Collapse Best Practices", but Dmitry Orlov's take on U.S. declinism is much-loved among the apocalypse set. Here he is recently in San Francisco:...

Drive-by Economics: No Headstones Please

A sign I spotted at the local recycling depot this morning. I was particularly struck by item #1 and #6. We have apparently reached the ghoulish point where we need to remind people not to loot for profit their own...

Berkshire: Worst Year Ever, plus Credit Default Swaps

Warren Buffett has out his annual Berkshire letter, and you will find lots of close line-reading at all the usual places. My takeaway -- beyond the obvious that this was a horrible year for Buffet, the worst in his career...