I think maybe the economy is sort of like the female body. And the Fed is like the Pill. So, while it CAN entirely get rid of your period/recessions, its job is really just to regulate the economy, so that recessions are short and manageable. And when you try to take the Pill for months without stopping, you get weird side effects like blood clots and housing bubbles. So it’s really better to just use the Pill to shorten your period and make it easier to deal with, but not to try to get rid of it entirely. So maybe that’s why men like Martin Feldstein think that the Fed can entirely smooth over the business cycle and get rid of recessions – they’ve never been female. And the Fed doesn’t come with dosage instructions.

edit: And I don't even want to think about what fiscal policy is in this analogy? Unwanted pregnancy?

(some explanation of where this analogy came from: reading Martin Feldstein's article suggesting fiscal stimulus to bring up aggregate demand without creating a housing bubble through the Fed lowering interest rates. But I was thinking that, really, most stimulus is either ineffective or results in more investment. Seriously, are the tax cut checks really going to induce people to spend more? Maybe I'm wrong, but I think this whole "let's build up aggregate demand constantly so we don't ever have a recession" is sort of silly. The business cycle is what it is, just like my body is what it is. The government's job is to regulate it and prevent things like the 1930's, not to keep us in constant boom, because that's just impossible, and anyone who tries is going for an extremely short-term solution. Which is entirely political, because any short-term solution is going to go bad at some point.)

Current Mood: studying

Dear LiveJournal,
It's been a good five years. But it's really time we went our separate ways. To all the people who've followed my life via LiveJournal, please GChat or FacebookChat or even call me. I'm not going away - just quitting this habit.
Love,
Ellen

the first entry when you Google "Constantine" is the 2005 movie with Keanu Reeves.

Current Mood: burned

Reading all evening. Ducked down to the practice room to screech for a while and think I kinda freaked Bill out... oops...

It's funny - I didn't think this book would affect me as much as it has. I thought I was kind of immune to the whole Victorian romance thing, after I realized that Les Mis is, in fact, just a book. But the thing that really drives me in this is the realization that I can completely identify with Helen. Not just because her name is close to mine, she's my age, and all that. But because a lot of her reactions are exactly the same way I would react. I mean, sometimes she gets mad where I wouldn't, but I would be sad where she is, and cry in front of him when she does, and be harsh where she is, try ignoring him and doing what he wants me to and everything in turns. And it scares me that nothing works. And maybe I wouldn't have fallen in love with a guy who I know is bad and isn't intellectually a match for me and maybe I wouldn't be so convinced that I could reform him like she is. But maybe I would. I mean, I wouldn't be staying at home and he wouldn't be staying at home and we wouldn't be going crazy for lack of things to do, but I can see myself in her position and not knowing what the hell to do. Which is scary, since I generally like to think that I'm in control. But what if I had no control? That scares the hell out of me.

Not likely, I guess, since I think I'd probably know my fiancee for more than two or three months before we decided to get married. But still, a thought.

Chamber Singers is essentially why I exist. Hope we'll be really ready for the concert - I love our music so much.

Current Mood: melancholy
Current Music: "Boats and Birds" Gregory and the Hawk

Craziest/most fun/best night ever. Schachter's jazz thing with 1/2 of Chamber Singers, with just Schachter on piano, 2 guys on sax, 1 guy on upright bass, and 1 on drums, in which they played a Tears for Fears song and ended with "Sexual Eruption" by Snoop Dogg. Then went back to my room and chilled for a while, until the Jews came back from their Jewish-ness thing. (i.e. they went to a huge Shabbat dinner at the MAC and it was large and took a rather long time) Then Shai calls me to ask whether I want to go salsa dancing. I, of course, immediately say yes, throw on a skirt and ballet flats, and run over to meet up with Molly, Jenny and her boyfriend, Shai, and Deo, and we all go over to this place on Inman Square where we get in for free because it was before 10 pm.

Then everyone tries to teach me how to salsa, and I'm somehow under the impression that the step is hard, so I'm all tense and worried, since I'm generally not a good dancer. Shai jokingly yells at me to relax a bunch of times. Then this random Latin American guy asks me to dance, and it's merengue, where the step is really simple, and he leads me in all these fancy steps. (That's what I love about Latin American dancing - the guy does most of the work!) And I dance with another guy and follow Jenny's advice to move my hips more, and I finally relax and start getting into it.

And then, tragically, they start playing modern music that is definitely not salsa and which is prohibitively loud, and we leave around midnight to take the bus home. I should really get out and dance more often.

Current Mood: good

I'm officially a reporter now. : )
http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=522446

(also check out Shai's article: http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=522440)

The Comp is sorta taking over my life. I keep putting off real work to edit my editorials more. But it's kinda seriously fun. Ridiculous amounts of work, though. Kinda sick. B Minor this week, 2 midterms (Wednesday and Friday) and housing excitement. Let's hope I don't go off the deep end...?

Tags: writing
Current Mood: accomplished

you know that you live too far north when...
your glasses fog up with your breath on the way from the dining hall to your dorm. and your soundtrack to said journey is yourself repeating, "FUCK IT'S COLD!"

sometimes, I hate Boston. and February.

also, in love with Professor McCormick. seriously. new idol for this semester. well, he and Harvey Mansfield. went with Peter Bacon and another freshman history kid to his office hours today instead of Ec 10 section, and it was amazing. sooooo excited about Medieval Europe, no joke. of course, being the obedient and conscientious kid I am, I went to a different Ec 10 section to get the material. guess I can't be entirely bad.

Current Mood: cold

( Shopping Week Post of Progress-ness )

Current Mood: touched
Current Music: "Haec Dies" - gotta love it

Found Bob Dylan songs on iTunes today. It's sort of a strange experience, since I've been listening to him since I was really little, on the old record player with the songbook whose spine is coming apart with the weird drawings of faces and all the lyrics in it. But it was never really conscious - I don't really know what most of the songs are, just Blowin' in the Wind and Masters of War and that stuff. And I remember once, maybe it came on the radio or something, I was driving with Dad in Big Al and we were listening to "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" he was just like, 'this is possibly the best song ever.'

It's strange being sort of at loose ends for reading period, since I have work to do, but there really isn't class, aside from a bit of Italian section. Still cold up here. Urgh.

Current Mood: peaceful
Current Music: "Tangled Up In Blue" Bob Dylan

so...cold...

I'm definitely not adapting well to this climate. According to the Weather Channel, it's currently 10 degrees outside and "feels like" -4. I went outside like 1/2 an hour ago for dinner, and ran all the way back because it was so cold. That's one thing that will be good about being in an upper-class house: not having to trek all the way over to Annenberg. And, although we called Yard Ops today and a guy came by to fix the heat, he was like, "OK, I'll go check on something" and never came back. So our room is still like 60 degrees. The hallway is actually slightly warmer.

But today did yield my first gazing expedition to the Fogg Museum (one of the art museums on campus). And I was assigned to write about a painting in the Impressionism room for my Italian thing, so I got to stare at the two Picassos, several Monets, Renoirs, Matisses, Toulouse-Lautrecs... it was pretty sweet : ) I really need to get over there more often, I'm thinking.

And also yesterday was incredible. So that kind of makes the piles of dirty snow and the arctic blasts that I face whenever I go outdoors OK. And it's nice to see people: two of the three roommates back today, seeing (at different points) Molly and Peter at Annenberg, the first meeting of my Italian section. And I got some ellipticalling in, which was nice. We'll see how reading period and exams end up actually going, though.

Current Mood: freezing
Current Music: "Killing the Blues" Alison Krauss