etsy wedding giveaway! gorgeous bridal shrug by bonzie

{ the ethereal wrap by bonzie }

i'm *so* delighted to post this: have been a fan of bonzie for a good long while and couldn't believe my (our!) good fortune when lovely yvonne wrote to offer this amazing giveaway.

what a great thing to wear over a strapless dress! as a wisp of romance like the ethereal wrap, or a pop of color. you have to check out their blog for this amazing yellow shrug.

to enter! do go check out bonzie's shop please.
then, in the comments tell us:

• a) what wedding website/planning tool are you using, and do you like it/would you recommend?  OR
• b) another item from bonzie's store you like as well OR
• c) all of the above.

please include your date if you have it. no need to post your email, i will find you. :) giveaway ends midnight PT april 7 8!! (next thursday).

and! everyone who enters qualifies for free shipping (from ireland!) on a bonzie purchase if the giveaway doesn't end up as yours.

here are some more irish-made lovelies:
 



 
thank you so much, yvonne!!
more at bonzie.etsy.com

Comments on Fiscal Policy

Back in December, I spoke at a conference at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.  My remarks about fiscal policy have now been transcribed.  You can read them here.

LONDON - soho, 03/31/10

Marron on the Fiscal Challenge Ahead

Donald Marron, with whom I worked at the CEA, reflects on the budget shortfall.

Taxes per Person

Some pundits, reflecting on the looming U.S. budget deficits, claim that Americans are vastly undertaxed compared with other major nations.  I was wondering, to what extent is that true?

The most common metric for answering this question is taxes as a percentage of GDP.  However, high tax rates tend to depress GDP.  Looking at taxes as a percentage of GDP may mislead us into thinking we can increase tax revenue more than we actually can.  For some purposes, a better statistic may be taxes per person, which we can compute using this piece of advanced mathematics:

Taxes/GDP x GDP/Person = Taxes/Person

Here are the results for some of the largest developed nations:

France
.461 x 33,744 = 15,556

Germany
.406 x 34,219 = 13,893

UK
.390 x 35,165 = 13,714

US
.282 x 46,443 = 13,097

Canada
.334 x 38,290 = 12,789

Italy
.426 x 29,290 = 12,478

Spain
.373 x 29,527 = 11,014

Japan
.274 x 32,817 = 8,992

The bottom line: The United States is indeed a low-tax country as judged by taxes as a percentage of GDP, but as judged by taxes per person, the United States is in the middle of the pack.

Update: This post has been more controversial than I expected.  I am surprised because I did not say much here.  I merely presented an identity and some data, which illustrated international differences in a novel (and, I thought, interesting) way.  In any event, I thank Scott Sumner for coming to my defense.

a message?

is my mail trying to tell me something?

what is up, strapless dresses?

 


 
{each photo links to its shop} 

so pretty. why must you be my nemeses?

here's a classic post from perennially amazing a practical wedding on dress shopping: where did all the sleeves go?

(see also my well-documented strapless-dress issues.)

i use this to introduce the next giveaway: the perfect solution! stay tuned, announcing tomorrow afternoon.

PARIS - lavinia, rue des pyramides, 03/11/10

Photos of my 1st day in Reykjavik are up on my visual diary.

THE OBSERVER - march 21st: paris fashion week

Read the whole column here.
Photos of Berlin & of my 1st day in Reykjavik up on my visual diary.

my heart's in paris sampler

{each photo links to its shop}

i so wish i could have been in paris this weekend, for my beloved friend's milestone birthday. we've talked about it for seven years. between an insane double issue and car trouble and my sad mini publishing salary, .... normally i'm just crazy enough to hop on 17 hours of plane for 24 hours of birthday.... je suis desole, cherie. we will celebrate soon!

LONDON - rebecca, broadway market, 03/27/10

Photos from my day in Basel and my 1st day in Berlin are up on my visual diary.

Preparing for the Next Financial Crisis

Click here to read my column in tomorrow's NY Times.

etsy vintage: clutches + purses for the bride

{each photo links to its shop}

voila! vintage wedding purses! as requested by reader "better than naked" in a comment.

(i pondered this username for a while this evening. does it mean, better than naked as in "it could be worse, you could be naked?" or [i prefer] something so great it's even *better* than naked? intriguing.)

(and yes, i'm supposed to be doing my taxes. denial, river in egypt, etc.)