GOOD NEWS ON TAXES AND THE ECONOMY: “I have to say that I’m pretty impressed with how the debate has gone so far. To be fair, I mostly read the financial pages–but on those pages, there is a serious debate between people who are clearly interested in fixing the damn problem. There is passionate disagreement, but little fulmination about the morals of the borrowers or lenders, or the people arguing for different solutions. It may be the first time in my life I’ve ever witnessed an economic argument where almost everyone involved seems to feel that the matter is too important to risk hurling ideological brickbats.”

Okay, actually if the economic situation has managed to scare everyone into being serious, maybe that’s bad news. Where do I get some Krugerrands, fast?

UPDATE: Oh no — hemlines are going down!

ANOTHER UPDATE: I don’t know if hemlines are the reason, but Greg Mankiw notes that the bettors at Intrade now see a recession in 2008 as more likely than not.