I live in the land of Garrison Keillor and Sinclair Lewis.  Most of the time I find Keillor a more accurate guide to current American life.  That is, we’re usually much like Lake Wobegon: all the men are strong, all the women are good looking, and all the children are above average.  We go to Ralph’s Pretty Good Grocery, attend Lake Wobegon Lutheran or Our Lady of Perpetual Responsibility, eat … [Read more...]

NK for NK: that was the story on January 1 at the Minneapolis Fed.  Narayana Kocherlakota’s six-year term ended on December 31 and Neal Kashkari took charge on January 1.  Kocherlakota shook up the institution at 90 Hennepin Avenue and I’ve been wondering in whether Kashkari would continue those changes or dial them back.  The answer is now in: it’s back to the future at the Minneapolis … [Read more...]

I heard a story this morning about the tug of war between Apple and the federal government.  The first person interviewed said, with regard to allowing the government access to his iPhone, “They can’t run the post office or healthcare or anything else.” Why do people have this nihilistic attitude toward the federal government?  The US Postal Service delivers mail to every address in the United … [Read more...]