I think this is a good idea. The street between Cook Library and OMH needed to be changed to one way ever since they made changes a couple years ago (took away the bookstore parking meter spaces - why did they do that again??) and the street became narrower. However, I think it's ridiculous that peo...

My First Kindle Book! If you follow me on Twitter or read the Twitter updates on the right hand side of this blog you know that I got a Kindle ebook reader for Christmas and it was just delivered. The Kindle allows you to download book samples to help you decide whether to buy a book. As soon as I g...

I just finished reading Founding Mother - The Women who Raised our Nation by Cokie Roberts.Founding Mothers gives a totally different perspective on the revolutionary era and the women who were a part of it. Here are a few tantalizing tidbits from Founding Mothers. Eliza Lucas Pinckney was the mothe...

Nonprofits are struggling to cope with the new economic reality – not just a temporary downturn – but with a long term, if not permanent change. My most visited blog posts are those that I wrote in the Fall about nonprofits and coping with the economy and I recommend them too you – I have gott...

Remember when Dubai was said to have a quarter of the world’s construction cranes? Well, that was a myth. But so too was Dubai’s prosperity. The credit bubble’s deflation has hit Dubai very hard; and crushed the ex-pats who came in search of opportunity. Here’s the New York T...

The New York Times takes apart John Thain and his tenure at Merrill Lynch. A dismal portrait of self-importance and self-aggrandizement, it will do more to damage Thain’s reputation than the office decorating. Just to cite a few random examples, Thain asked for $40 million in bonus for getting...

Obama’s proposed restrictions on banker’s pay has caused a lot of howling. It would seem that many feel these cosmetic gestures–deferred compensation is a big backdoor in Obama’s plan–are an affront to the idea of the financial industry’s special place in our soci...

It seems hard to believe that anyone is still looking forward to growth. But some of the recent news out of Davos suggests there’s optimism still around–though it is of a very particular sort. The Chinese are claiming that a combination of consumer handouts and some additional stimulus c...

The great mystery of Robert Rubin’s fall from grace is his own role in managing the public perception of his work at Citigroup. Yesterday’s announcement that Rubin would be retiring–combined with news reports of negotiations to sell some crown jewels–will be remembered as the...

I suppose I should start this by saying that it’s hard not to like Art Laffer. He’s affable and sincere. His extreme supply-side ideas are kind of quaint and even entertaining. Last night he was on Fast Money, but his comments weren’t so funny anymore. The segment was on the propos...