This Gallup poll on migration shows that 700 million people around the world want to emigrate from their current homes.  The top three destinations for would-be migrants: The U.S., Canada, and the U.K.  Australia is also in the top ten.

The Pakistani glitterati turned out in force for this fashion show featuring daring outfits by local designers.At one level, you have to wish them well.  People and especially women-people should have the right to wear what they want, and encouraging local designers is a good way to help Pakistan’s textile industry move higher up the […]

The New York Times this morning has a story that more and more people are paying actual money for virtual goods; they are paying on-line retailers and social network sites to send virtual gifts to their friends.  You pay one dollar; they ‘ship’ the image of a champagne bottle to the on-line account of someone […]

Now it begins.The conventional wisdom on Obama is going negative.  The Virginia and New Jersey elections were a tipping point: suddenly a lot of isolated bits of data jelled into a pattern.Now come new economic numbers; unemployment is officially in double digits for the first time since 1983.The next stage will come as more of […]

Most of the time I take my neighborhood for granted.  Walking home from the subway last Saturday, though, the neighborhood was looking positively Biblical.Specifically, it reminded me of the eleventh chapter in Genesis (Old Testament again, for those of you keeping track), in which the citizens of Babel decide to build a tower that will […]

John Steele Gordon is one of the most interesting economic historians around.  This piece in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal looks at some of the most important changes going forward in the United States today.  You may not agree with his answers, but I think you’ll find that his questions make you think.

Remember, remember, The Fifth of November, Gunpowder, treason and plot!I only got to celebrate Guy Fawkes Day once when I was a kid, but it was definitely the Best Holiday Ever.Three hundred and five years ago today, a deranged Roman Catholic named Guy (aka Guido) Fawkes and a group of accomplices were caught in the […]

Well, it’s not your real birthday, and I’m not Marilyn Monroe, but it is the first anniversary of your election – and the first time the voters have spoken since then.Welcome to the rest of your term.This isn’t the happiest day you’ve had in the White House.  Last night’s election returns weren’t what you’d hoped […]

The improbable journey of a theory that helped wreck the economy.

A bold new design for a master metric of national power.