Submitted by CARPE DIEM
From trading on Intrade.com for politicial futures contracts:
2008 Democratic Nomination:
P (Obama) = 85%
P (Clinton) = 15%
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Submitted by CARPE DIEM
BISMARK, ND — North Dakota ranked top in the nation for export growth in 2007, according to U.S. Commercial Service reports. The state’s exports totaled $2 billion in 2007, up 34% from its $1.5 billion in exports in 2006; nationally, export growth was 12% more than the previous year.
Among the top export […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM
 
Google’s Chief Economist Hal Varian Answers Questions on the Freakonomics blog:
Q: What jobs would you recommend to a young person with an interest, and maybe a bachelors degree, in economics?
A: If you are looking for a career where your services will be in high demand, you should find something where you provide […]

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Submitted by The Capital Spectator
CNNMoney calls it a “high wire act.” BusinessWeek says Bernanke “faces stiff headwinds.” And Allan Meltzer in today’s Wall Street Journal asks if the Fed has “reverted to its mistaken behavior in the 1970s?”
The immediate source of the sobering commentary is yesterday’s chit chat between the House financial services committee and […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM

R.I.P. William F. Buckley Jr., 1925-2008
Washington Post: “Erudite Voice of the Conservative Movement”
NY Times: “William F. Buckley Jr., 82, Dies; Sesquipedalian Spark of Right”
Reason Magazine 1983 Interview: “I share about 90 percent of the views of most libertarians”
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Submitted by CARPE DIEM
INDIANA, PA — Denise George never thought she was breaking the law. Living on the outskirts of Dayton, she didn’t think twice about helping her Amish neighbors — whose religion prevents them from owning vehicles — make a trip or two into town during the week for supplies and other reasons.
That is, […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM
HELENA — With Montana’s unemployment rate at an amazingly low 2%, finding qualified workers for Helena employers is the biggest challenge facing the city’s employment agencies.
SYDNEY — Australia’s seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate fell to a record low of 4.1% in January from 4.3% in December, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
HONG KONG […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM
Big-box behemoth Wal-Mart has ventured into the healthcare realm, offering low-cost, walk-in clinics in more and more of its stores every day. Although Wal-Mart medicine may not sound like a great idea at first, these clinics can bring good changes to the health care industry, like insurance-free care, eased emergency rooms, and […]

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Submitted by Econbrowser
As the dollar hits a new low against the euro [0}, some thoughts on what arguments make sense, given our knowledge of the statistical properties of real exchange rates.

From Deutsche Bank’s Exchange Rate Perspectives (February 22).
We see several themes pointing towards the current USD down cycle being close to an end:

The USD is […]

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Submitted by Businomics Blog
The latest news is really bad for developers selling houses:

That decline reflects two things: first, that we builders have constructed far more homes than Americans need, and second, that they are facing reality that there are too many homes.  To sell, you need to cut the price.  Here’s how the supply of […]

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Submitted by A Dash of Insight
In our office we have wide-ranging lunchtime discussions about things affecting the market.  A recent topic was the impact of the analyst recommendation.
The question before us was the following:
Suppose that you had a feeling that an analyst from a big-name firm was going to downgrade a stock.  Further suppose it […]

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