Mary Phillips-Sandy lives here.

Cashier: That be all? Me: Yes, thanks. Cashier: These are two for $2, you know. Me: Yeah. I saw. Cashier: So you want a second one? Me: No, thanks. Cashier [brief pause for befuddlement]: But they’re $1.50 each. You can get two for $2. It’s cheaper to get two. Me: But I only want one. [...]

…there was a Bavarian immigrant’s dry-goods shop in Montgomery, Alabama. Reading such things makes me wonder: Decades from now, will upstart politicians deliver a variant of John Edwards’ “I Had a Mill” speech, only substituting “investment bank” for “mill”? My father worked 120 hours a week, fighting his way up the ranks from analyst to [...]

I’m going to be on the Blog Talk Radio program “Unusuable Signal” tomorrow night, 11 p.m. EST, to discuss the economy, comedy, Ben Bernanke’s eerie resemblance to a walrus, etc. You can listen to the whole thing through your computer, and I believe you can also call in to ask questions/make walrus noises. Click here [...]

What is it about Tim Geithner that makes everybody grab for copies of the founding documents? Is it his puckish eyebrows? His haircuts from Felix? His cozy camaraderie with Citigroup? Who the hell knows? At any rate, this is the wrong way to wave the Constitution at Tim. If you recall. And this is the [...]

Used car salesman: Anything particular you’d like to avoid? Me: Anything domestic. Used car salesman: Oh, sure. (Never driven a Honda, but this ad is adorbs.)

Oh, this you must watch. Here is M.Ba, all hopped up some hot Lemon Zinger, preachin’ to the U.S. of Tea: (Via Politics in Minnesota, who has to live with her, although according to the masthead it is run by “a tiny red speck in a big blue precinct,” so maybe they are the ones [...]

I thought this was obvious. Apparently it’s just me.

Somewhere in a dark corner of Massachusetts, probably in or very near a Dunkin’ Donuts, Michael Capuano is biding his time. “Just a few years, my precious,” he whispers to his chocolate glazed. “You’ll see. I’ll live to do an encore of To Me I Think They’re Illegal, for the hedge funds.” Meanwhile, in the [...]

Every Christmas Porter McCumber’s relatives were subjected to a detailed account of the Fordney–McCumber Tariff bill’s origins, an account that seemed to grow longer and longer with each passing year, despite tactful attempts to steer the conversation in other directions. I discuss the impact of tariffs, at YPR.

!!!!1!!!!!!!!!! SEN. CHARLES GRASSLEY, R-IOWA: The first thing that would make me feel a little bit better towards them, if they had followed the Japanese example and come before the American people and take that deep bow and say, “I’m sorry,” and then either do one of two things, resign or go commit suicide. CHUCK [...]