Colbert: Rand Illusion

Ayn Rand is apparently gaining popularity again. Watch here. "Atlas Shrugged" is has a sales rank of #52 on amazon.com. Sadly Hayek's "Road to Serfdom" is only about #600.

Obama and France

I found this funny take on the French vs the American economic system on Greg Mankiw's blog. Click here to watch Veronique de Rugy, adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute, talk about France.

Socialist nightmare

The Daily Show's take on the "socialist nightmare" in Sweden: here.

US mobility

Mobility is often touted as a major strength of the US economy. A side effect of the housing market's implosion is that mobility is the lowest in 47 years, according to this NYT article.

Forging a New Capitalism

The President of France writes in the New York Times that "The world expects that we build, together, a new form of capitalism, better regulated, with a greater sense of morality and solidarity." At the same time, he says that "This crisis is not the crisis of capitalism. On the contrary, it is the crisis of a system which has drifted away from the most fundamental values of capitalism." And then he adds "We decided that in future not one financial player, not one institution, not one product would be beyond the control of a regulatory authority."

A centralized approach to green cars

China is aspiring to become the world leader in green cars, according to this New York Times article. The government ordered the power company to set up electric charging stations in several cities. A quick way to cut through the chicken-and-egg problem of electric cars first or charging stations first.

Private gains, social losses

Columbia economist Joseph Stiglitz (Nobel-prize in 2001) says Geithner's solution to the crisis is worse than nationalizing banks. Read here why he talks about "Obama's Ersatz Capitalism."

American Oligarchs?

The former Chief Economist of the IMF thinks that the US is turning into a Banana Republic, and the financial top dogs are oligarchs. Read his article in the Atlantic Monthly.