Other Friday Reading

Please do see Krugman's piece in the previous post: by far the most interesting reading I've come across recently. However, there's other stuff worth reading, as always:

• Many people have been using the Great Depression of the 1930's as a comparison to today's crisis. My dad pointed me to the Pragmatic Capitalist, who links to a more interesting comparison: 1873. There is very interesting point in that article beyond just a comparison of crises: namely that the rise of great nations generally came about during a time of turbulence and ultra-protectionist measures. China, anyone? "Moreover, it was during the 1870s that the USA entered global markets for the first time as a major exporter of agricultural and manufactured goods. The USA had by then become the low-cost producer of a wide range of products and in the 1870s began to flood Europe with cheap commodities (agricultural goods, minerals, timber) as well as manufactures. The economic effect on Europe was devastating. The existing international flows of production and consumption were rendered instantly obsolete, unemployment soared and there was widespread and lasting hardship."
• The worst of the slump is yet to come?
• Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel-Prize winner, doesn't think we're out of the woods either.
• Florida's rising taxes are badly straining the middle class, and as a result, it is seeing the first net population loss in many years, according to this Time article.
• Another topic I want to make a more detailed post on: broadband in America. How does broadband affect the economy, and how will current and future policy impact this effect?
  
• The Real Regulatory Revolving Door: "The most important aspect of this is that the “revolving door” problem is most acute, not with the actual regulated firms, but with the professional firms that provide services to regulated entities, especially law firms..."