Articles on comparing the science of economics to pre-Copernican astronomy and other problems, Germany’s tough love, Morgan Stanley’s happy outlook for the markets, what PIMCO thinks central banks will do, the Saudis are not amused, rewriting Tibetan history in China, who’s crazy, and Harper’s chance.

In the ‘you have a headache so we are going to take off your leg’ category of misaligned description and prescription, some thoughts about the problems economists are having.

Canada

Pension Pulse – Canada’s Mortgage Monster
Watch out when rates go up.

 

Globe and Mail – All Signs Point to a Severe Housing Correction in Canada
It’s coming.

 

Articles on how underdogs win, how come nobody has gone to jail after the financial collapse of 2008, thoughts about inflation, how to manufacture personal morality, is hell dead, an interview with Christopher Hitchens, sports meltdowns and the 1999 British Open, and the end of dreams in Israel and Palestine.

We have remarked before that new disruptive technologies unexpectedly bring down huge, well established competitors. But this is only unexpected because it is easier to live in the present than imagine a different future, and often in the interest of established elites.

With the two leaders’ debates finished the Conservatives remain on track for a slim majority but not if Project Democracy has anything to say about it.

Articles also on the fate of the US dollar, the debt countdown in the United States including evidence that America has a progressive tax system, a fascinating article on uneven evidence in US crime investigations, Tom Friedman’s Yugoslavian warning, and Japan’s deadly D’s.