Greater fuel theory Everyone is upset at gas prices. But if you really want to see a radical cost shift, look at the real price of diesel fuel. No wonder Walmart has suddenly discovered the virtues of local produce. No Tags...

Compared with the Times editorial page. People don't seem to know this, but they, not me, were the first to worry about an Obama cult of personality. And today's editorial is quite something. Consider this an open thread for my relatively mild column. No Tags...

A note to the Pervasive Pollyannas of Prosperity: The U.S. economy needs to add more than 100,000 jobs each month just to keep up with growth in the working-age population. Over the past 6 months, nonfarm payroll employment has fallen more than 400,000. So job creation this year has fallen well over a million jobs short. No [...]...

OK, I hadn't heard this one before. About the collapse of the auction-rate securities market, which is for all practical purposes a modern version of a bank run (people who thought they had cash assets suddenly found themselves trapped): ` `It's the fire in the discotheque,'' said Peter Demirali, a vice president at Vineland, New Jersey-based Cumberland [...]...

OK, not quite: close today still above 11,000. But we're getting within striking distance. No Tags...