Eartha Kitt not only had talent (see, for example, her scene-stealing performance in St. Louis Blues) but fearlessly spoke truth to power. In 1968, while at a public White House lunch, she properly embarassed Lady Bird Johnson by declaring “You send the best of this country off to be shot and maimed....They rebel in...
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During recent months, the Fed has flooded the banking system with reserves, which the banks have chosen to accumulate as (legally) excess reserves, rather than using the funds to add to the volume of their outstanding loans and investments. The Fed’s recently adopted policy of paying a small rate of interest on bank reserves...
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In the spirit of Christmas, I have been striving to regain my faith in humanity. I want to believe again, as I did in my childhood, that people are better than cockroaches or staphylococci. For a while I was making progress. On Sunday, I enjoyed a magnificent performance of Handel’s Messiah at Carnegie Hall (featuring my stepdaughter...
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