A reader writes, in response to my column a few weeks ago on subprime mortgages (which discussed how subprime lending had helped dramatically reduce mortgage denial rates for African Americans):

I don’t think that any fair minded person would say because historically blacks and minorites have been kept out of the housing market

…

I’ve got no column in the magazine this week. Been working on something. But the new Time, with an Army dog tag on the cover, contains many other riches. Such as Joe Klein going nuclear on the White House (although he’s against impeachment), Mark Thompson describing the troubled state of the Army, Anita Hamilton explaining that–whatever …

After some of the gloomy things I’ve been writing about the economy lately, this morning’s payroll report–revealing that an estimated 180,000 net new jobs were created in March and the unemployment rate dropped to 4.4%–was a nice reminder of just what a wondrous machine the U.S. economy is.

The OECD also released its “standardised …

I didn’t notice this one until late in the day Thursday: On the op-ed page of the day’s Washington Post there’s a George Will column pooh-poohing talk of an oil crisis. Then, on the front page of the W$J, there’s a fascinating article about the decline of a major Mexican oil field. It’s a nice case of on-the-ground reporting trumping …

In the midst of an interesting if dauntingly long-winded discussion among economists at FT.com comes this from the LSE’s Robert Wade:

All this is a long way of saying that the great global reflation after 2001, which Martin, Larry and others celebrate, is more fragile than they suggest. But the fragility is not mainly to do with the

…

Well, maybe not here: I wrote it back when this blog had a different home. But the editorial on “The Coming Tax Increase” in today’s W$J sure does have a familiar ring. Thus spake the righteous descendants of Wanniski:

The new House and Senate majorities have now passed budget resolutions — five-year budget outlines — that include the

…

Sometimes people say really revealing things when they’re talking in a language that they figure nobody outside their own country understands. This is from leading Dutch paper NRC Handelsblad (clunky translation mine):

According to Dan Ligtvoet, head of MTV Networks Benelux, the lawsuit filed by “big boss” Viacom is mainly a means of

…

Sure he’s the competition (although this is from Robert Samuelson’s Washington Post column, not his Newsweek one), but that doesn’t mean he can’t be right:

For the past three months, the consumer price index has increased at an annual rate of 4 percent. “Core inflation” (all prices minus food and energy) is at 2.7 percent for the past

…

I’m sure this news will cause a little something to die inside my pal the Equity Private, but I’m supposed to go on CNBC’s Power Lunch this afternoon at 1:40 or so to share my bounteous expertise on the subject of Apollo Management’s possible IPO. The Sorkinator actually says Apollo isn’t thinking of going public at the moment, and he …

So Europe’s stock markets have passed those of the U.S. in value, at least if you count Russia and Turkey as part of Europe (which they both partly are). This apparently happened last week, but nobody seems to have noticed until Tuesday after an analyst in London named Ian Harnett pointed it out. There are some caveats, noted the …

I Google myself, on a regular basis. I was slightly ashamed to admit this until I read this on page 193 of John Battelle‘s book The Search:

…it’s a good idea to check your own name on Google, early and often. Given that just about everyone else you meet will be doing it anyway, it’s just smart to get a picture of who you are in the

…