I recently made a casual prediction to co-blogger Bob that an Obama presidency (combined with a Congress to the left Mao) would trim at least 0.5 points and 10 ranks off the United States economic freedom rating (currently 8.04 and tied for 8th).

Though it could be equally applied here as well: "Financial crisis: We're all socialists now, comrade" Some snippets: For the Government to take stakes in our leading banks in order to re-capitalise them is not quite the sovietisation of Britain, but...

Writing on the Freakonomics blog, Dan Hamermesh suggested that MLB attendance is an inferior good (attendance increases when the economy weakens) because unemployment reduces the opportunity cost of attending games.

From the Chronicle of Higher Ed ($): Congress is crafting a second economic-stimulus bill, and the nation’s colleges, hit by the deepening fiscal crisis, want a share of the money.