Interesting Items 6/13

Rockonomics and the ‘Winner-take-all’ Economy

Economist Alan Krueger gave an excellent speech recently on how the developments in the music industry mirror that in the broader economy:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/hope_and_dreams_-_final.pdf

Der Spiegel on the Possible End of Cheap Money

http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/bernanke-and-us-fed-change-course-on-interest-rate-policy-a-905242.html

The German Economy

http://www.economist.com/news/special-report/21579145-ingredients-german-economic-success-are-more-complex-they-seem-dissecting

Strong Yuan

http://www.economist.com/news/china/21579488-after-enduring-decade-criticism-its-weakness-chinas-currency-now-looks-uncomfortably

World Bank June 2013 Global Economic Update:

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Secrets of the British Empire

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/13/opinion/atoning-for-the-sins-of-empire.html

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Freedom and Liberty

An Excellent Piece by Clive Crook of Bloomberg

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-11/is-the-u-s-still-the-land-of-the-free-.html

George Will of Washington Post Offers Some Insightful Comments:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/george-f-will-lois-lerner-the-scowling-face-of-the-state/2013/06/12/e644307c-d2d5-11e2-a73e-826d299ff459_story.html

“Government requires trust. Government by progressives, however, demands such inordinate amounts of trust that the demand itself should provoke distrust. Progressivism can be distilled into two words: “Trust us.” The antecedent of the pronoun is: The wise, disinterested experts through whom the vast powers of the regulatory state’s executive branch will deliver progress for our own good, as the executive branch understands this, whether we understand it or not.”