1
World
Ebola Reaches Capital of Guinea, Stirring Fears
With 13 Ebola cases in Conakry, Guinea’s densely populated capital, residents are on edge, with some carrying bottles of bleach and pharmacies selling out of hand sanitizer.
2
N.Y. / Region
Rivals for New York Casino Licenses Must Pay Millions to Play
It will take a fortune just to open the doors of a full-scale casino resort in New York, starting with a $1 million nonrefundable application fee.
3
Automobiles
A Few Auto Industry April Fools’ Day Pranks
Every April 1, automakers and automotive publications crank out a few silly jokes and pranks in celebration of the world’s strangest celebration.
4
World
Religious Tensions Cloud Myanmar Census
The nationwide count has been criticized because the government has denied members of a long-persecuted Muslim minority the right to identify themselves as Rohingya.
5
N.Y. / Region
Holder, in New York City, Calls Terror Trials Safe
Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said that last week’s conviction of Sulaiman Abu Ghaith had “proven beyond any doubt” that terrorism trials can “safely occur” in New York City.
6
Business Day
Fake Meats, Finally, Taste Like Chicken
Demand is growing from younger consumers seeking a more healthful or more ethical diet, but innovation is pushed by investors who see a potential solution to big problems.
7
Dining & Wine
Tavern on the Green Accepting Reservations
After two years of renovations, Tavern on the Green in Central Park will open for dinner on April 24.
8
Fashion & Style
Banking on My Future as a Father
A spate of reports on potential fertility problems among older men sends the author on a mission to the sperm bank.
9
U.S.
Law May Force Drilling on Balking Landowners
Houston-based Hilcorp seeks to use a 1961 Pennsylvania law to drill under the property of four holdout landowners in New Bedford.
10
World
Turkey Lifts Twitter Ban After Court Calls It Illegal
The social media site was unblocked after a two-week ban, following a ruling from the country’s highest court that the ban violated freedom of expression.
11
Fashion & Style
‘I Believe in the Valor of Pallor’
The writer Jill Kargman talks about staying out of the sun and why she wants to look like Veronica, the comics character.
13
U.S.
Chicago Mayor Seeks Alterations to Repair Badly Underfunded Pension Plan
Rahm Emanuel wants to raise property taxes and require some city workers and retirees to contribute more for their retirement benefits to repair a pension system at risk of insolvency.
14
U.S.
Pacific Gas and Electric Charged With 12 Felonies in Explosion
Charges against Pacific Gas and Electric were linked to a 2010 natural gas pipeline explosion that killed eight people in the San Francisco Bay Area.
15
Business Day
European Finance Ministers Approve New Loans for Greece
Pointing to signs that Greece is emerging from its economic crisis, euro zone finance ministers approved the release of 8.3 billion euros in rescue loans.
16
N.Y. / Region
Friends Without Words
Jaime Herrera, who has been deaf since he was a child, is a janitor at the main branch of the New York Public Library.
17
U.S.
Letter Tells of U.S. Searches for Emails and Calls
The letter, from the director of national intelligence to a senator, underscored that such activity was not just theoretical.
18
U.S.
Airline Blames Bad Software in San Francisco Crash
The Korean carrier Asiana told the National Transportation Safety Board that inconsistencies with the aircraft’s automation logic were also to blame for the crash.
19
World
Delays in Effort to Refocus C.I.A. From Drone War
Despite avowals about the need to refocus the agency on its original missions of analysis, intelligence collecting and espionage, the paramilitary operations have proven hard to give up.
20
U.S.
Detroit’s Revised Debt Plan May Cut Pensions Deeper
The city of Detroit on Monday evening proposed new details, including potentially larger cuts to pensions for some retirees, for its plan for paying off portions of its debts.
Pensions and Retirement Plans; Bankruptcies; Municipal Bonds; Government Employees
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/04/07/channels-of-oligarchic-influence-an-example/
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/04/07/channels-of-oligarchic-influence-an-example/
Channels of Oligarchic Influence: An Example
I’ve been
suggesting that inflation paranoia has a lot to do with the interests,
or at any rate the perceived interests, of the 0.1 percent; the same
goes for other policy arenas. But how does that influence work? Well,
there are multiple channels. In some cases we have crude buying of
influence through the promise of campaign contributions or the threat of
backing someone else — hence the pilgrimage of GOP would-be presidents
to Las Vegas to abase themselves before Sheldon Adelson. Some of it
involves financing think tanks and media organizations. But an important
channel, I believe, is personal: oligarchs quite literally wine and
dine people who go along with their views and interests — and when
billionaires are doing the wining and dining, well …
In a few minutes I’ll be teaching about inflation, deflation, and all that, and my slides
finish with the signatories of the famous letter warning that
quantitative easing would debase the dollar. The first name on that list
is the hedge fund manager Cliff Asness. So, does anyone remember this story? (Do click on the link.)
As the linked article indicates, Asness has
close ties to the finance group at the University of Chicago, whose
reigning leader is the recently Nobelized Eugene Fama; indeed, Asness
was Fama’s student. Now, some readers may recall that Fama said something strange about modern economic history
in defense of the finance industry, asserting that the rise of finance
had ushered in “a period of extraordinary growth” after the early 1980s.
As anyone even slightly familiar with the data knows, this is all wrong
— growth in advanced countries has been generally slower since the rise
of modern finance than during the postwar generation when banks were
tightly regulated, and developing countries — mainly China — have
maintained capital controls, so that Wall Street has had nothing to do
with their performance.
So what might make someone who gets his
economic history from talking to his social set believe that great stuff
has happened since 1980? Hmm:
You see my point: the sheer wealth of the 0.1
percent has a kind of gravitational attraction, pulling people into
their orbit and their worldview."
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