The Fall Out Continues

A few good articles I've come across in the last few days:

-- A pretty good run down on the details/behind the scenes look at what did happen this weekend on Wall Street.

-- A "what just happened and why does it matter" from the Freakonomics guys. Also, it's interesting that Levitt is so candid in his "I'm just an economist, I haven't a clue what's going on". I think a lot of people expect economists to understand finance and be some sort of financial genesis... and I guess to a certain degree they do. But economics today is not really about numbers; economics today is the study of human behavior—why people make the choices they make and what our choices mean.

-- Politics and policy are interlinked in this country—even if I don't like it, 'dem da facts—so obviously I'll throw up some interesting political observations and musings. And with the election oh so close, expect a lot political links.

But polling results are starting to show a break for Obama, and now the question/headlines becomes/will become... is McCain in trouble? I think this is a bit of an over reaction (just like the Obama's in trouble! after the GOP convention). But if more polling results over the next week show a swing towards Obama then it goes to show how little of an impact the conventions have, how fickle short term polling data can be, and that no matter what this race is very tight. I don't think McCain is in a lot of trouble, but I was wondering how he would handle being in the lead. The past week, a week with him in the lead, has been less than encouraging. Maybe Obama taking the lead is the best thing for McCain...

-- Who says Obama hasn't done anything and hasn't actually done anything? To anyone who follows Illinois politics, getting this moving is nothing short of amazing.

-- Chuck Hagel, one of my favorite Senators, doesn't think Sarah Palin has the experience to be Vice President.