Adam Smith Institute

Free speech really is indivisible, otherwise it just becomes a matter of taste.

Yes, some people really did explain what has been happening ahead of time. Welcome to the prophets of accountancy.

Another point: Freddie and Fannie were as much special vehicles to get the borrowing off the government's books as anything that Enron did.

An important addition to your online newsgathering tools.

Just another reminder that the good old days are now.

The intertubes is indeed a glorious invention for allowing this.

And finally, jeepers!

Some are still carrying on the fight....the bailout will make the problems worse, not better.

Defending speculators and short sellers.

Hayek might have over egged the pudding, that the NHS would inevitably lead to facism: but an increase in the power of the State does indeed lead to a diminution of freedom and liberty.

This big government and planning thing: it might be something that we can afford (although would rather do without) but poor countries simply cannot carry the cost of it.

Explaining corporate taxes the Basil Fawlty way.

An extremely odd judgement from Scotland. How can you have an expectation of privacy in a public place?

And finally, the professionals consider the bloggers....those darned amateurs, stealing the bread from our mouths (cont. pg 94)

At last, an explanation! The reason that statistics and journalism don't mix is because journalists are no good with numbers. If they were, they'd be doing something that paid better.

If it costs so much money to give all those addicts methadone, why not just give them heroin instead?

It's amazing how complex and wasteful things can get once a legislature gets their hands on it, isn't it?

This would fix another problem without the intervention of the legislature.

On the myths of food miles.

The way things used to be: can't they be that way again?

And finally, the mackerel economy.

If you think that things are bad here in the financial markets take a gander at this report on the Russian ones.

Looking at the other financial crisis, the government books, quite how much do we need to cut spending so that we can cut taxes?

Imagine that someone proposed a law to make it illegal to wash your car in your own drive. Do you think that The International Carwash Association would support it?

Do he rich have too much economic power? Well, compared to what? Congress has much greater economic power, no?

An excellent letter to our friends on the left, explaining what's been going wrong and what we might do about it.

Asking the really important economic question. Trend growth in the US has been about 1.8% per annum for, well, forever really, since there was a US. What is that magic bit that has made this so when many other parts of the world simply cannot manage that?

And finally, liveblogging the VP debate.

There is a problem with these calls for greater regulation you know. The problem being the regulators.

This is probably a useful loosening of the regulations at the moment.

The latest theory on what went wrong. Apparently porn is to blame.

It's not only the financial world that has problems of course. The music industry really seems to have lost the plot as well.

Given the Government's propensity to take dystopian novels as instruction manuals there are a few we might not want them to read.

(Swearing alert!) Meet the new Leader of Scottish Labour.

And finally, journalism is a craft, one that not everyone immediately grasps the essence of.

The Guardian's Will Hutton believes the only viable British Paulson plan - bar a £500bn-plus international loan - may require us to join the euro to win the support of the whole of the European economy and the ECB as part of a pan-EU initiative to create `good banks` for Europe.

Just goes to show, sometimes the cure's worse than the complaint!

You know, amongst all this panic, it really does seem that this loan securitisation thing did what it was supposed to. Put the risk amongst those who could afford it.

With all this talk of more regulation...might we hope that the current regulators stop working entirely at loggerheads?

Netsmith (for the value of Netsmith's opinion) rather likes this outline of what actually happened and who might be to blame.

A reminder that you really do want to beware those bearing statistics.

This is something that you might want to join in with. Take a photo of our free and pleasant land....

A rather better example of what makes this a free and pleasant land...

And finally, what credit crisis and great research reports of our time.

Because Warren Buffett wants something, is that a sufficient reason that we should give it to him?

Yes speculators can indeed move prices up and down: but then that is exactly what we want speculators to do.

The unintended consequences of regulation in markets: maybe PETA should campaign against rent control?

And more effects of regulation upon markets and more unintended consequences.

OK, but just exactly what should we be doing in future then?

Bono says that we should all invest in Africa. Well, yes, but says development economist specialising in Africa.

And finally, now that we can't short sell financials, why are financials still going down in price?

Do we really want the unions, once again, to be above the law?

This might in fact be one of the more marked effects of blogs and blogging upon the mainstream media.

There are those who argue that Bradford and Bingley should simply be allowed to fail.

A markedly diferent view of Sarah Palin and her place in Amerian politics.

Yes, we have learnt from the Great Depression and no, it won't happen again. At least, not if everyone keeps learning from the Great Depression.

An interesting idea: why not use the wisdom of the crowds in designing and testing the next generation of smart phones?

And finally, surely a shock to all. Politician appears hypocritical.

It might be time to trade in the Book of Common Prayer for a yarmulka. The Cheif Rabbi certainly seems to have grasped the right end of the stick.

Evidence of what happens when you do try to set prices in a market system.

For those worried about bankruptcies causing job losses: it might not actually work that way.

An object lesson in how silliness can infest attempts to intervene in market systems.

And again, interventions can have unintended effects.

It appears that at least one European country has made blogs illegal.

And finally, yes, this was probably not a good idea.