Things I Love: Fall Music Mix

So, I'm up late burning some fall mix CDs from itunes (does anyone else do a new mix every month?). Anywho, I have some favorite new songs for the fall that I thought I would share:

Stay or Leave - Dave Matthews Band
Southern Girl - Amos Lee
In the Colors - Ben Harper
Three More Days - Ray Lamontagne
Silver Lining - Rilo Kiley
Wonderful World - James Morrison
Big Sky - Garrison Star
Follow Through - Hotel Lights

Look them up on itunes. I think you'll like them!

LONDON - drawing restraint (matthew barney) exhibition, serpentine gallery + on the street, kensington & shoreditch, 09/24/07

A Reading for the Pigou Club

Here is supply-side guru Arthur Laffer together with coauthor Wayne Winegarden:

Of the two primary policies being proposed to address global warming�the capping and trading of emissions and the taxation of emissions�we favor the taxation of emissions. We suggest that a pro-active environmental policy should include an appropriate carbon tax fully offset by a static dollar-for-dollar across-the-board reduction in marginal income tax rates. If implemented with taxpayer protections, this policy would mitigate many if not all of the adverse economic costs from reducing carbon emissions.

Inspiration Monday

Hey everybody, sorry for the hiatus last week, I just had no time to post. Atlanta was lots of fun, we got to eat at this restaurant and had a great time (and a gigantic martini). I'm leaving for New York City on Friday, so I decided just NOT to unpack my suitcase. I've also decided that while in the big apple, I will do my best to get a glimpse of the new Sex in the City Movie. I just get so happy when I see pictures of the gals back together on the gossip blogs.

Don't worry, I have a few inspirational wedding photography sites for you today. As always, I will insert a warning that these awesome weddings are sure to bring out a few tears. Keep...tissues...ready.

So check out these slideshows from Lynne Brubaker Photography. I especially like Kate & Alexander's wedding (and yes, I would love to have my first dance to Adam Levin - in person).

I also love this wedding from Patricia Lyons Photography. Preppy to the max.

And last, but not least, take a look at this new stationary line designed by Heather Ressian called Posh. The name says it all - her designs are just lovely, check them out. I also want to thank our fabulous photographers (Worthington Photography) for sending Heather's designs my way. If you're getting married in Richmond, you want to hire Worthington.

So happy inspirational Monday to you all!

LONDON - shoreditch by night, 09/23/07

Summers on Moral Hazard

Larry makes the case for bailouts. This is a topic on which there is little consensus among professional economists. Larry represents the more activist point of view.

In the process of making some general points, Larry defends the 1990s bailouts he was involved with:

A competent lender of last resort � in Bagehot�s sense of one who lends freely at a penalty rate against good collateral � actually turns a profit, as the IMF did in its response to the financial crises of the 1990s.

The fact that this particular bailout was profitable ex post is, however, scant evidence that it was wise ex ante. In particular:

An important corollary to recognizing that decisions are about probabilities is that decisions should not be judged by outcomes but by the quality of the decision-making, though outcomes are certainly one useful input in that evaluation.. Any individual decisions can be badly thought through, and yet be successful.

That piece of wisdom, by the way, is from Robert Rubin.

Larry concludes with some general guidelines for when bailouts are okay:

First, are there substantial contagion effects? Second, is the problem a liquidity problem where a contribution to stability can be provided with high probability or does it involve problems of solvency? Third, is it reasonable to expect that the action in question will not impose costs on taxpayers? If the answers to all three questions are affirmative, there is a strong case for public action.

These questions are sensible, but they are hardly an algorithm for good policy. They are extraordinarily vague, leaving a lot of discretion to those in power.

Bailout critics are skeptical that government policymakers are likely to have all the wisdom that Larry presumes. And they are skeptical that those who oversaw the "successful" bailouts of the 1990s were actually as wise as they think they were. After all, "individual decisions can be badly thought through, and yet be successful."

rainsend: ring pillow

custom bird's nest wedding ring pillow

bear with me, friends, i'm on a ring pillow jag and it's unstoppable. whoo! just thought this one was clever and different, especially for those getting hitched in the spring. new life and whatnot!

figures that rainsend is in new england -- the eight years i lived there, spring was a desperate *need* by the time it arrived. not too proud to mention one year i *finally* saw little robin red-breast and scared the bejeezus out of it --
i see you, you bastard! i see you!

er, ahem. back to weddings. you can customize the egg/ribbon color to whatever your heart desires. more at rainsend.etsy.com