European Econ Forecast

Clever economic weather forecast from the FT:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3af6c64c-9eb6-11dd-98bd-000077b07658.html

Hat tip to Barry "The Big Kahuna" Ritholtz.

Hoover Institute

The Hoover Institute has a great link to some educational videos:

http://www.hoover.org/multimedia/uk/

Not exactly economics per se, but close enough.

B&N Free Cappuccino Offer (Thru 10/31)

I love cappuccinos. B&N is offering a free one through October 31, 2008:

Barnes and Noble Coupon

Hope it works.

Don't Worry, Be Happy

NY Times says many Americans won't be affected by the bailouts because relatively few of them pay any taxes:

http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/20/americans-shouldnt-worry-about-the-bailout/

Law: Performance Reviews

Here is an interesting article on whether companies should keep doling out performance reviews:

http://www.hrlawyersblog.com/2008/10/articles/hr-management/getting-rid-of-performance-reviews/

From my experience, performance reviews are used against the employer and constitute one of the few pieces of evidence readily available to a potential plaintiff.

Colin Powell on an American

Colin Powell on Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20081021/pl_mcclatchy/3078971

There is a picture accompanying this article elsewhere that apparently belongs to Platon for the New Yorker. The picture shows the soldier's mother, Elsheba Khan, clasping her son's tombstone. It is not to be missed:

http://www.newyorker.com/online/2008/09/29/slideshow_080929_platon?slide=16

Natural Gas Partnership

Russia, Iran, and Qatar may create a natural gas partnership/cartel, similar to OPEC:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081021/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_gas_cartel

Think now would be a good time to invite Russia into the G-7?

Here is what I said earlier on the G-7 (Earlier Post):

With those three new players [including Russia], the G-7 can exchange political capital for hard cash. Then, we can show them the advantages of being part of the club. Perhaps then, Russia might feel less inclined to continue to occupy Georgian soil and will avoid establishing a consortium of natural gas producers, which would include Iran.