The Death of 'Cruel Arrogance'?

Steve Curnutte — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 09:20:33 -0500

Arrogance will never die of course, but hopefully the last few months have set it back a pinch.

The Case of the Puzzled Baboons

Steve Curnutte — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 15:13:39 -0500

America has collectively awakened to a crisis. Fear and a bunker mentality have choked consumer spending. It seems bad news makes people act even more conservatively, which makes things worse, which makes for more bad news. Most of what is written about this phenomenon seems to rest on intangible reasons like consumer sentiment or retail pullback. So we thought we could offer a concrete, albeit strange, example by looking to the world of primates.

A Wall to Push Off...

Steve Curnutte — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 00:26:47 -0500

To intervene or not to intervene. That is the raging debate on our satellites. That is the raging debate around our water coolers. ‘Let them fail!’ or “They are too big to fail.’ But it is far deeper and more subtle than that…

Capitalism....dot gov?

Steve Curnutte — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 19:15:44 -0500

There is a new drugstore test called the E.G.T. (Early Government Test). You pee on a stick. If the lines appear, you are no longer living in a free market.

The Yearning for a Malefactor (and other failures)

Steve Curnutte — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 23:29:33 -0500

The churning of the press in the last few weeks has at least been good for something. If there were any doubt before, none now should remain. Our national conversation about our economic woes is shockingly devoid of an original voice. Each new article about the state of our affairs seems little more than a recapitulation of someone else’s opinion; which itself is derivative of another’s opinion. At best, we might find a concise description of what has happened.

The Treasury, Mosquitoes, and Unintended Consequences

Steve Curnutte — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 16:41:58 -0400

Time for True Economic Innovation...

Steve Curnutte — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 23:08:00 -0400

With the speed of a thunderstorm and the force of a glacier, the massive deleveraging of global markets is reshaping the face of American finance. The venerable system of Wall Street investment banks was carved from the map in a matter of weeks. The unwinding is not over of course. But a way forward must be found.