I look forward to these quiet evenings together, with your edifying talks on theurgic matters, the legerdemain of the apothecary.

Some of the banks did report earnings in the first quarter of this year, mostly based on accounting legerdemain and trading profits (read speculation). But thiswon t get the economy going again quickly.

No one who is not well versed in financial legerdemain can make much sense of this battle of the bonds. But behind it lie two moral attitudes, which are much easier to grasp.

All of this economic legerdemain was magnified by television, print, and Internet journalists. Aside from a small number of good stories in the business press, it is difficult to argue that anyone who read or listened to English language media coverage of the campaign could have learned anything interesting or relevant to the question of whose economic policy was likely to be better for America.