Getting Started: The WTO has ruled that EU preferential banana treatment is illegal. This may not sound all that interesting, but the Banana Wars were the subject of my first international politics paper, and I loved the topic so much I decided to become a political science major. (If I find it, maybe I'll post that paper later.)

There is a pretty interesting article in Slate about how Catholic bonds have performed versus Vice Bonds: “It is the Advisor's [of the Vice Fund] philosophy that although often considered politically incorrect, these and similar industries and products...will continue to experience significant capital appreciation during good and bad markets. The Advisor considers these industries to be nearly ‘recession-proof.’” Both performed really well lately, but Vice outperformed Catholic. More interesting to me is how socially conscious bonds have done (they've done worse lately, but not surprising considering that current legislation is stacked in favor of the other guys), and how to calculate the added benefit of having a good conscience.