Rolfe Winkler

Hi all, back tomorrow with more columns after the high holiday.

The mortgage machine backfires (NYT) A great column from Gretchen Morgenson on MERS today. You’ve never heard of it, I know. Fascinating topic in light of a recent Kansas court ruling…

Chicagoans for Rio (chicagoansforrio.com) This website makes a great point. With a busted city budget, does it make sense to spend billions preparing for the Olympics and building venues that may never be used again? The site is in the news because, according to Drudge, the Fox affiliate in Chicago that first featured the site has been asked not to put it back on the air. The powers that be want to avoid embarrassment ahead of the official announcement for the 2016 host city.

Money figures show there’s trouble ahead (Evans-Pritchard) Ambrose is looking at money supply aggregates noting deflationary pressure. He says we’ve no choice but to monetize debt to avoid a deflationary spiral. But how could that be done without destroying confidence in fiat currencies?

Cuts meet a culture of spending at Condé Nast (NYT)

Phillipine man loses life after savings dozens from flood (theage.com.au)

The angry evolutionist (Newsweek)

Spider weavers weave one of a kind tapestry (NPR)

Helmet cam captures skier buried by/rescued from avalanche (Vimeo) It’s amazing the guy was only buried 4 minutes before he got pulled out. Very lucky.