- Greg Mankiw’s Blog | The Next Team – «What would you call a group of economists who are skeptical of regulating mortgage markets, who think unemployment insurance and unions increase unemployment, who say that tax hikes retard economic growth, and who believe that the recovery from the Great Depression was a monetary phenomenon rather than the result of New Deal fiscal policy? No, it is not a right-wing cabal. It’s Team Obama»;
- John Mearsheimer: Rebalancing the Middle East | Newsweek.com – «There is a strategy that has proved effective in the past and could serve again today: “offshore balancing.” It’s less ambitious than President Bush’s grand plan to spread democracy throughout the Middle East, but it would be much better at protecting actual U.S. interests. The United States would station its military forces outside the region. And “balancing” would mean we’d rely on regional powers like Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia to check each other. Washington would remain diplomatically engaged, and when necessary would assist the weaker side in a conflict»;
- Was the Great Depression a monetary phenomenon? – Paul Krugman Blog – NYTimes.com – «So here we are, facing a new crisis reminiscent of the 1930s. And this time the Fed has been spectacularly aggressive about expanding the monetary base. And guess what — it doesn’t seem to be working»;
- Brad Setser: Follow the Money » Blog Archive » If you only read one thing on China this fall … – «The World Bank forecasts that China’s current account surplus will RISE not fall in 2009, going from an estimated $385 billion to $425 billion. How is that possible if real imports are forecast to grow faster than real exports? Easy – the terms of trade moved in China’s favor. The price of the raw materials China imports will fall faster than the value of China’s exports. China’s oil and iron bill will fall dramatically»;
- Redefine Victory in Afghanistan | Newsweek.com – «No country poses a greater potential threat to U.S. national security—today and for the foreseeable future—than Pakistan. To risk the stability of that nuclear-armed state in the vain hope of salvaging Afghanistan would be a terrible mistake. All this means that we need to change course. The war in Afghanistan (like the Iraq War) won’t be won militarily. It can be settled—if imperfectly—only through politics»;