I wonder where Conor Dougherty of the Wall Street Journal came up with the brilliant idea to write this jocular blog post about Minnesota's two Tom Stinsons - Tommy Stinson, the Replacements bassist, and State Economist Thomas Stinson.

Maybe he was interviewing Stinson the economist about a state budget deficit story and casually mentioned he was a Replacements fan and anecdotes ensued.

However it came about, it made me do one of those cubicle laughs where your neighbors have no idea what you're going on about. (Hat tip to St. John's economic professor Louis Johnston via Twitter).

This is my favorite quote from Tom Stinson, the economist, who has patiently walked me through the numbers on more than one occasion: