I hate numbers and money, but I love economics. Don't ask me how.

Yesterday, my econ prof offered extra credit if we posted on the class discussion board explaining the dip in oil prices caused by China's subsidy reduction last week. The WSJ blog post he wanted us to read was mildly interesting, but it was the reader comments below it that I really enjoyed. Between more prosaic responses like, "There might be technical buying of oil as it peaks in the short term," were lines like this: "The dollar is on a death spiral and I know that it’s just a matter ot time until everyone sees the ghost of the Weimar republic hanging over the old greenback, er purpleback like I do! The illuminati zombies running the fed and the treasury are Bilderberg spectre minions who have no real interest in defending the dollar because they want energy prices high to keep the Texas oil cartel happy and you buried in debt." This, of course, was followed by another's "Please. Stick to real economics."

It's a lot of work, but I'm really liking this class. I was worried that the math would be too much of a challenge, but for some reason, when paired with concrete data, problems actually make sense to me. I would have had such an easier time learning slope-intercept form if it had been put in terms of supply and demand curves.