Tankers are like tourists -- taken advantage of by those wicked indigenes. Sometimes it's better to be in a rifle company. Sure, it's a slog, but at least you know the local culture on the other side of the wire.

I'm a great fan of Eleanor Roosevelt -- admittedly, an admiration gained reading snippets of her writings and quotations, only. Her attitude toward racism and her efforts to reduce the effects of segregation are especially praiseworthy; she had a good heart. But how good was she at sizing up others whose hearts were less good? Quoting the Dragon Queen, without a touch of irony, suggests she wasn't. Are the protections of irony unavailable to those of good heart? P.S. Did ER ever publicly break with -- or distance herself from -- the China Lobby?

"It was just a little walk / In the warm Italian sun . . . ." From my favorite WWII movie.

In what respect were the "most experienced pilots" also the most enthralled by and attached to the "way of the warrior"? Hard to tell the typically aggressive pilot it's time to go back to the training command.

Lately, I've overheard people talking about this thing called I-Rack. A friend told me she thinks it's Apple's new product that's going to replace the I-Pad. Anyone know?

And yet how many Germans benefited from the confiscation of Jewish real and personal property -- often justifying their acquisitions by saying "It's only fair; after all the Jews are bombing us." And how many Germans who didn't benefit directly knew someone who did. In the final year of the war Germans expected the Jews to take their revenge. Revenge for what? The Germans well knew "for what."

Germany was and continues to be (see: Right of Return) a racialist society. If you speak German -- and who but Germans speak German -- you belong; if you don't you don't. On the other hand if you were surrounded by a bunch of effete Gauls and barbarous Slavs, what would you do?

Goebbels isn't a conspiracy nut and he isn't mad; he's a propagandist looking to convince certain Allied powers -- the UK and the US -- that they all have a common enemy. It's propaganda, because he refuses to take the argument to its logical conclusion. The give away is his admission that Germany is waging a "racial war" coupled with his dissembling use of the terms "European" and "Axis powers." He is unwilling to define the membership of the race he expects to win that "racial war" and to dominate the peace. And the careers of Angela Merkel and Olli Rehn show just how savvy Goebbels was.

In their paper Olney and Paciti include "structures" and locate their effect on the "goods" side. Three of the last four recessions (3 of 3 if the 2001 recession wasn't) are associated with downturns in construction. One was caused by Volcker's Fed policy; two were caused by overbuilding and/or lax lending standards. Only Volcker's was curable via monetary policy. The take away from Olney and Paciti is that monetary policy can't work in a "services" economy when construction is dead and corporations (stuffed with cash) no longer rely on bank loans for working capital and capital goods replacement. First, we kill all the monetary economists who made their bones during the Great Moderation.

Given the Polish elite's long-standing anti-Russian proclivities and their historic distaste for Polish partitions it is likely that this elite will, in the future, foment disturbances in the parts of Poland heretofore liberated by the Red Army. Although unlikely to be ultimately successful, such disturbances may lead to uprisings and guerrilla warfare costing many casualties among Russians and Poles and the destruction of much property even extending into Soviet territory. Although not imminent the dangers of allowing this elite's maleficent influence to grow are real and must be prevented. The interests of peace will be served by terminating that influence. John Yoo

Don't we all know what should have happened? An Economic Stimulus Act -- of 2009 -- should have sent $1.2 trillion to American households in 2009 and another $1.2 trillion in 2010. City, Bank of America, and JPMorgan Chase should have been taken over by Sheila Bair, and Morgan Stanley, AIG, the Reserve Primary Fund and their ilk should have been put into bankruptcy. Dave's right. And I for one wish there were more than just a few liberals on this board.

Since the end of the recession the monetary base has increased by around $1.4 trillion. At the same time excess banking reserves have increased by around $0.9 trillion. That's an addition of around $125 billion a year. How is that modest increase describable as, in Prof. DeLong's words, a "flood of cash," "flood[ing] the economy with cash," or "flood[ing] the economy with money." Am I missing something?

I have the same question -- especially w/r/t "Fed then loans the money." A purchase -- Fed buys USTs from primary dealers -- isn't a loan. I suppose if the Fed "buys" via a repurchase agreement (1-7 days), the transaction can be thought of as a loan. And Graeber was probably thinking pre-QE when the transactions were done in short-term UST notes. Nevertheless, the Fed isn't loaning the created money at the "prime rate." What's Graeber talking about?

"Snuffy" Smith says, "We had gun cameras in the nose [P-38], but the pictures they took were not that good, because they worked when the guns fired, and the camera would shake. One fellow in the squadron got the idea to mount the cameras in the wing nacelle and then they took much clearer pictures, because the camera was away from the guns."

On his first combat mission Marine 1st LT. James Swett shot down 7 Vals (an eighth was unconfirmed) on April 7, 1943 in the area of Florida Island. For his efforts he received the Congressional Medal of Honor -- and not posthumously.

How effective were German mine clearing operations? How many plows, rollers and flails did they have? Clearing mines by hand in front of entrenched enemy riflemen can't be fun.

"Your nice letter . . . Had a swell time . . . native Fiji police and East Indian Sikh police are very colorful . . . seems a little tame and dull . . . relieve the monotony . . . Negro soldiers who pattered and danced . . . certainly let himself go . . . a very pleasant evening . . . really top-notch . . . doing handsprings . . . I know that he will make good." Reason enough to never read Edgar Rice Burroughs.

In the Real World For whatever reason (fear of insolvency) Beverly doesn't pay off Carol on day one. We should expect that she'll want to hold the $500 cash in her piggy bank to assure herself the money will be there to pay Carol in 60 days. What Beverly actually does is go to the bank for a construction loan of $500 to pay Alice for the new deck. Following the story to its end, Carol winds up with $1000; Beverley has an improved home; Beverley's bank has a $500 asset; and Carol's bank has an additional $500 of reserves. $500 has been "printed" -- just as Cochrane said it would be.

I should add that the state has reserved to itself the sole right to take life and property. The state jealously guards these powers, and non-state actors who assume state powers are, by definition, criminals.

Killing Landsburg in his sleep should not be a crime unless someone was damaged (economically or emotionally or in other ways) by the loss of a living Landsburg. The problem is that while a solitary, reclusive misanthrope may leave no one affected by his death at the time of his death, we cannot know the future. He might change, and we can imagine the existence of future beneficiaries who would be harmed by his death.

@ Seth Gordon He doesn't know you (or anyone else) broke in, and he doesn't know who you are. Why would he file a compliant? Indeed, per your hypothetical, what's his complaint?

I should add that even if the victim remains unaware after being informed (dementia), there are other interested parties who suffer -- those who are responsible, legally or psychically, for the well-being of the victim. And too, the state has an interest in preventing those interested parties from acting to revenge themselves upon the perpetrators.

Landsburg posits an act (a rape unknown to the victim) which is undetected by the state and then, jumps to arguments concerning crime. I would say that such an act may be immoral but it is not a crime until the state becomes aware of it. It is inconceivable that once aware, the state would not inform the victim. At that point the victim ceases being unaware and the psychic damage the average/typical victim will suffer is indisputable. Landsburg's hypothetical is unsound?

Does Federal Reserve money -- that is, money created by the Fed to pay for the Fed's purchase of bank assets (an increase in bank reserves) -- ever feed into the real economy? Banks put money into "the real economy" when they lend. They lend when 1) borrowers appear 2) with sound repayment plans in hand. Bank lending officers don't look at their bank's reserve balance ("Federal Reserve money") before they make the loan. Note: If the banking system holds excess reserves ("Federal Reserve money"), banks' costs will be a bit lower and a few more borrowers with sound repayment plans will appear -- but I don't think that's what you mean.

So, why was Eisenhower (and Bradley and Hodges, et als.) so fearful of exposing their own flanks? To the Wehrmacht: We've won the Battle of the Bulge. Kindly retire in good order so we can launch frontal attacks on you in January and February. It's the least we can do. SHAEF