CAN RUPERT PULL IT OFF?

UPDATE: NEW YORK - News Corp., the media conglomerate controlled by Rupert Murdoch, has withdrawn its bid to purchase the Long Island paper Newsday, a News Corp. spokeswoman said Saturday.

Pearlstine, speaking to the Argyle Executive Forum in New York, said the new WSJ's focus on the horse race makes sense, because there's a horse race. But "it will be interesting to see if that can be sustained after the election... an awful lot of Journal subscribers made the decision to buy it because they didn't want general news--they wanted specialized coverage they couldn't get elsewhere."

Pearlstine's critique isn't a new one: It's more or less the conventional wisdom about Rupe's plan at this point. We have a hunch that Marcus Brauchi may have had the same argument. And now he's also a former WSJ managing editor.

Token caveat from Pearlstine: "For any of us to sit in this room to bet against Rupert and his vision is brave, but he has made mistakes along the way—TV Guide comes to mind--so he's not infallible."

See my exchange with Murdoch in the video above.

ECONOMISTS DEBATE JAMES GALBRAITH VERSUS PAUL KRUGMAN

In the final analysis, Krugman’s argument is that there is a simple distinction between the “serious” economists–who agree with him–and the “critics,” who are, by definition, not serious. It is true, of course, that economic-policy discussions are magnets for cranks. But from this it does not follow, and is not in fact true, that all “serious” economists hold to some single position. It is even more absurd to suppose that one gains access to this wisdom by passing an exam in algebra. In this respect, Krugman’s argument is so shallow, so actually illogical (a fallacy of induction, in this case), that it is evidently aimed at rubes. I hope not many will be taken in.

(Many of my articles, including the original target of Krugman’s critique, “What Is to Be Done [About Economics?]” are accessible online. Also available, a paper entitled: “Linear Decomposition of Time-Series” [for anyone interested in checking out my linear algebra …]

BYRON DELEAR RUNS IN MO

There is such an army of political reporters covering every burp and twist in the primaries that I have largely stayed away, preferring to weigh in with some media analysis on a race that has been in many ways by, in and if not for the media, I did chance a chance to chat with one candidate running in the democratic primary in Missouri for a Congressional seat Held by a Bush Republican.

He is a candidate in the heartland with fiends in Hollywood. The writer Gore Vidal has embraced him and his political analysis certainly cuts deeper than the ones espoused by most traditional Democratic office seekers. He has some slogans like the “separation of buck and state” and a broad economic program including public financing of elections and measures to deal with our $430 billion debt, He has a srong economic program that he is raising on the campaign trail.

“We are seeing the Enonization of the American economy—corporate behavior and greed running rampant—capitalism getting unstable,: he says pointing to the Wall Strreet crash and what happened with Enron, and the S&L crisis. He is also backer of balanced budgets and stresses financial responsibility as a way to win over Republicans in his district.

Voters go to the polls in August.

What intrigued me is that he has made the media an issue in his race in the second district in the Show Me State. He wants to promote more media literacy in schools and put an end to media concentration. It is one of his issues.

I was also impressed to hear of his previous work on behalf of conflict resolution and peace in Israel.

The candidate is Byron DeLear. If you live in Missouri’s Second District, he seems worthy of your consideration..

WHO WOULD OBAMA PICK AS A VP? INTERESTING SPECULATION