Miscellany
Link to the PBS special, Niall Ferguson's The Ascent of Money. * * * * * * * Ah crap. I was hoping we'd hold strong at $12 trillion: The U.S. debt will top $13.6 trillion this year and climb to an estimated $19.6 trillion by 2015, according to a Treasury Department report to Congress. * * * * * * * I was always grateful for my near-minimum wage job at K-Mart: Teens Face Worst Summer Job Market in 41 Years. Most kids in my hometown did time at McDonald's or in the cornfields (detassling). No matter what we did, we were happy to have jobs in the early 1980s. Today's kids are getting a taste of that now. Good thing we raised the minimum wage to make these immature, low-skilled workers less employable. * * * * * * * So, Rush Limbaugh got married for the fourth time, and Elton John sang at his wedding. I like Rush, but is it me, or is he losing those conservative credentials? * * * * * * * The Left doesn't understand economics. Proof is in the test scores. * * * * * * * Gold reached new nominal highs yesterday. It hit $1,251. To reach real (inflation-adjusted) highs, it'd have to break $2,000 an ounce (possibly $6,000). I'm not saying we'll get there, but it's evidence that gold isn't in the bubble territory yet. Mania territory, sure, but not bubble.
