Things that aren’t sustainable don’t continue.

The trick is figuring when they stop being unsustainable and how much damage they will cause."

Martin Wolf (and others) argue that Greek debt is unsustainable and dangerous.

A great hip hop video on the debate between uber-economists Keynes and Hayek, and articles on smart immigration policy, on how to manage the Pakistan problem, religious hatreds, saving cafeteria food, and the ultimate Bond.

Martin Wolf argues that the time has come to restructure Greek debt because the longer the wait the more painful, for everybody.

Financial Times – The Eurozone’s Journey to Default
A story is told of a man sentenced by his king to death.

 

Quote worth quoting.

“In short, Greece is in a Catch 22: creditors know it lacks the credibility to borrow at rates of interest it can afford. It will remain dependent on ever greater quantities of official financing. However that creates an even deeper trap.”

Paul Krugman agrees.

New York Times – Greek Out?
Kudos to Mark Weisbrot for saying the unsayable, and making a case for Greek exit from the euro.

And the Guardian.

Guardian – Greece and the Eurozone: Kicking the Can Along
The clearest lesson to be drawn out of this week's back and forth in the eurozone is this: Angela Merkel, Nicolas Sarkozy and the other single-currency heads of state have no intention of changing their tactics in tackling the gigantic problems facing Greece.

A hip hop explanation of what divides economists. Thanks to David of Victoria.

youtube – Fight of the Century: Keynes versus Hayek
"Fight of the Century" is the new economics hip-hop music video by John Papola and Russ Roberts

Related.

Pdf below – Frederick A. von Hayek, Tiger by the Tail: The Keynesian Legacy of Inflation

Smart immigration policy eludes the United States whose past prosperity was built on it.

Slate – Let in the Super Immigrants!
This winter, George Mason economist Tyler Cowen published The Great Stagnation, an e-book arguing that the United States has exhausted all its easy sources of growth. We have, Cowen says, no more low-hanging fruit: no morecheap frontier land to farm, no more places to build new interstates, no rural homes to electrify, no more girls to send to school and then add to the workforce.

How China and the United States should work together to help get Pakistan right.

Foreign Policy – Dear China Help Us Fix Pakistan
The war of words is officially on.

John Bolton has other ideas.

Wall Street Journal – Managing Pakistan after bin Laden
Duplicity has been a hallmark of Pakistan's approach to the U.S. for years.

 

Chris Hedges lets rip on anti-Muslim sentiment in the United States.

Truthout – Your Taxes Fund Anti-Muslim Hatred
News personalities, politicians, self-appointed experts on the Muslim world, and law enforcement and intelligence officials, as well as the Christian right, have successfully demonized Muslims in the United States since the attacks of 2001.

Related.

New York Times – Clashes in Cairo Leave 12 Dead and 2 Churches in Flames
A night of street fighting between hundreds of Muslims and Christians left at least 12 people dead and two churches in flames on Sunday in the latest outbreak of sectarian tensions in the three months since the revolution that ousted President Hosni Mubarak.

When I lived in residence at Glendon College we had to buy a year’s worth of cafeteria food. The supplier was Beaver Foods. Everyone hated it. But maybe there’s hope, 33 years later… (ed’s note – little did we know the horrors waiting for us in Edmonton and Osaka …)

New York Times – The Future of Cafeteria Food
If you have gone to school, worked in an office, factory, or other large workplace, you’ve probably eaten — and hated — your fair share of institutional cooking.

What makes Bill Gross of PIMCO tick.

Atlantic – The Vigilante
IN FEBRUARY 1993, as the fledgling Clinton administration grappled with the nation’s budget woes, campaign adviser James Carville groused to The Wall Street Journal: “I used to think if there was reincarnation, I wanted to come back as the president or the pope or a .400 baseball hitter. But now I want to come back as the bond market. You can intimidate everyone.”