Did you read Paul Krugman’s latest column in the New York Times?

….

If the establishment had its way, there would only be one Republican left in this race – and the National Convention would just be a massive rally for Mitt Romney.

There would be no talk about individual liberty.  No mention of trillion-dollar deficits, real spending cuts, and the out-of-control Federal Reserve.

And there would be no questioning the cost of utopian nation-building schemes or policing the world.

But thanks to your hard work and dedication to the cause of liberty, the establishment isn’t getting its way.

Not this time.

I’m planning to take my campaign to Restore America NOW all the way to Tampa, Florida, for the Republican National Convention.

But to do so, my campaign must have the funds to continue picking up delegates all across the country.

So can I count on you to help me fight all the way to the National Convention bypledging to make a generous contribution to my campaign’s Money Bomb on April 15?

So far, my campaign’s delegate strategy has paid off.

Dedicated supporters of mine have been turning out at their local caucuses and conventions to run as delegates to their Congressional District or State Conventions – where National Delegates will be elected.

It’s these delegates who will choose the Republican nominee at the National Convention in August.

That’s why it’s absolutely crucial my campaign has the funds to continue organizing and winning delegates in many states around the country.

And there are also important primaries in Texas and California coming up where hundreds of delegates will be up for grabs.

That’s why I’m counting on you to pledge to contribute to my campaign’s Money Bomb on April 15.

You and I have fought tooth and nail against the establishment for nearly an entire year now.

And the most important battles are happening right now.

So please, help me take my campaign to Restore America NOW to the Republican National Convention by pledging to make a generous contribution to my upcoming April 15 Money Bomb.

Let’s take our fight all the way to Tampa.

For Liberty,

Ron Paul

P.S. My campaign is holding a Money Bomb on April 15.

With the Republican National Convention fast approaching, my campaign must have the funds to continue winning delegates in many states all over the country.

So please pledge to contribute to my Money Bomb on April 15 to help me take our fight all the way to Tampa!

One of your editors flew out of SFO on Thursday and had a chance to visit the Yoga room.  How was the experience, you ask? Well, the pictures speak for themselves.  Please note that the lights for the $15,000-$20,000 room went on and off at random intervals:

The light shows the way

Jackpot

Rules are meant to be respected...

...so I respect

$15,000-$20,000 at work

And I head for the exit

P.S.:  No one bothered me as I was taking the pictures inside and outside of the room, even though I was next to the security checkpoints, looked young and somewhat middle-easternish, and only had a backpack on me.  AMERICA!

P.P.S.: The plane from SFO to LAX was over 20 minutes late thanks to Obama Jam.

P.P.P.S.: No Yogic Flying, sadly.

They say “the Yahoo deal is compelling for AOL Chief Executive Tim Armstrong, who believes he can do a better job running a combined company.”

O rly? Because it just happened to strike me that three out of eight words on the headline refer to big, obsolete corporate clunkers, each one amounting to less than the sum of its parts. Throwing more random shit together will work this time.

Case in point: Almost 80% of NFL players near bankruptcy two years after they retire.

For me this discussion went by the wayside until just recently, when Professor Jeffrey Frieden lectured about the “unholy/impossible trinity” in international economics (formally derived from the Mundell-Fleming model).  Basically, a country can at any time only choose two of three goals:  1) a fixed or pegged exchange rate, 2) an independent monetary policy, and 3) free capital mobility. Given a world where there is free capital mobility or capital controls can be avoided, countries will have to choose between 1 and 2.  Although this is a simplistic way of looking at the model, one could argue that the US, which lets its currency float, has chosen 2.  More information about this here and here.

What  does this mean?  Probably nothing.  Maybe the person in charge of achievements  had studied economics and was just having fun with the idea.  Or maybe “impossible trinity” is one of those blanket terms that can refer to many things that come in 3′s, not just economics.  Heck, I could write the religious hypothesis after this.  But that should not stop the mass speculation!  If you can only have 2 out of 3 characters, what are the GTA-specific reasons why you can’t have the 3rd?  Is Niko Bellic representative of fixed exchange rates or free capital mobility?

…

Ok, it was probably just a broad term or a reference to religion.  Extending economic models and hypotheses to try to interpret video game lore will just lead to a cluster****.

Click here to view the embedded video.

We didn’t really know or care why the other guy thought the minimum wage bill was such a big deal for American Samoa. But then recently this came up [Reuters]:

Chicken of the Sea, the tuna company, announced this month that it will close its canning plant in American Samoa in September. The culprit is 2007 legislation in Washington that gradually increased the islands’ minimum wage until it reaches $7.25 an hour in July 2009, almost double the 2007 levels.

In 2007, the hourly minimum wage in American Samoa for fish canning and processing was $3.76 and the minimum wage for government employees was $3.41. Shipping had the highest minimum wage, at $4.59. Garment manufacturers got the lowest, at $3.18 an hour. A $7.25 wage is a substantial increase for most residents.

Chicken of the Sea will lay off 2,041 employees—12 percent of total employment, almost half of all cannery workers. And the 2,700 workers at StarKist, the other American Samoa tuna canning company and Chicken of the Sea’s rival, are probably concerned that their jobs are the next to go.

We have been writing about this for several months.  This particular graph shows M0 through the decades.

And he spoke at the House Democrats’ annual retreat in Willimsburg, VA about the bill. [CNN]

This will be fun. Maybe.

Yes, Please send me the Special 4-coin Collectors Edition, including the Presidential Dollar and the JFK Half Dollar, each with the life like image of Obama as the man who changed the world, all for just $19.95 plus shipping and handling. I am covered by the 60-day money back guarantee.

Put this one under “too soon” [US Coin Network].

On CNN someone bought 30 minutes to sell Obama victory plates [Victory Plates].

P.S.:  The Obama coin advertisement on CNBC was followed by a “how to make money in real state” infomercial.  So far the hosts have said that you don’t need money, credit, or experience to get started.  Are they also selling hope and change? [CNN]

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