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Marketplace Scratch Pad

Morning Reading

Scott Jagow Dec 7, 2009

Good morning. Hope you had an excellent weekend. A few items to start the week:

Dismal scientists missed the optimism in the jobs report (Bloomberg)

Economists were almost unanimously incorrect about the start of the recession, fundamentally clueless about the depth of the recession, and now it’s looking like they will get the end of the recession wrong, too.

Explaining the financial system’s collapse (The American)

Three strikes on Ben Bernanke (The Institutional Risk Analyst):

For all of the above reasons, we think that the Senate should reject the re-nomination of Ben Bernanke…

The IRS tells single mom she’s too poor, must be lying (Consumerist) Your government at work:

A single mom in Seattle thought she was playing by the rules. She earned under $19,000 per year as a hairdresser, supported her two children, and shared a home with her parents. Then the IRS audited her, claiming that she simply didn’t earn enough money to be able to live in Seattle, and must be hiding something. Two years and $10,000 in accountant bills later, the IRS has determined that she isn’t trying to run a scam…

The new Woods pre-nup (Daily Beast):

The initial prenup was worth $20 million after 10 years of marriage. However, the Chicago Sun-Times’ Bill Zwecker has reported that Elin Woods will receive an immediate payment “into an account she alone controls,” and that the 10-year timeframe — which began when they married in 2004 — has been shortened and the value increased “substantially.”

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