Excellent advice for those who would understand either American politics or economics in general. Read PJ O'Rourke. Greg Mankiw (who teaches the ec.10 course at Harvard) has been known to add him to his reading lists.
For those who would go a little deeper, another recomendation. Hernando de Soto manages to explain more about why some places grow and others don't.
Gary Becker explains something about the sub prime crisis: it can't have been a plot by predatory lenders, as it's the lenders who are losing the money (unless said lenders were in fact insanely stupid which would be a rather different problem).
(Sweary alert) We have the usual sight of politicians being generous with our money, not so much with their own.
A thought on social democracies and their high tax rates : how do you keep them (both the taxes and the citizens subject to them) when emigration becomes ever easier?
One way the net is changing the world: making the oddest of hobbies easier.
And finally , Bah Hecate! to the whole Christmas thing.
