naked capitalism

God Helps With Personal Decisions, Most Americans Say Huffington Post

Chief exorcist says Devil is in Vatican Telegraph. I’m so glad they found him.

Hot Property Sex.com on Auction Block ABC (hat tip reader John D)

OECD: UK has worse social mobility record than other developed countries Guardian

Commercial property may cause new crisis, says FSA Independent

Gallup: Can’t Get No Satisfaction Ed Harrison. A very stark contrast with the cheery market talk of late.

Regional Employment Report: Unemployment Rate up in 30 States, Down in 9; Manufacturing States Benefit Most Michael Shedlock

A Government Takeover of the Economy? Mark Thoma

The Volcker Principles Move Closer To Practice Simon Johnson. The interesting bit is his argument re what to do with Goldman

How to handle the sovereign debt explosion Mohamed El Erian, Financial Times versus The long wave of government debt Andrew Scott, Vox EU

Principal Writedowns and the Fake Stress Test Mike Konczal, New Deal 2.0. Today’s must read, with a tidy and compelling analysis.

Antidote du jour (hat tip Crocodile Chuck). From a very nice slideshow with audio:

The “miracle” Asian elephant calf was born alive at Taronga Zoo after he was believed to have died in his mother Porntip’s womb two days ago.

Researchers back cancer-fighting properties of papaya Associated Press

Sports Enhancement and Life Enhancement: Different Rules Apply h+ (hat tip reader David C)

Unionists make citizens’ arrest of insurance CEOs People’s World (hat tip reader John D)

Barney Eats Seconds – Or Blows Smoke – Or Both Bruce Krasting

Grayson Offers Medicare Buy-In Bill, Makes Impassioned Speech Huffington Post

Germany’s eurozone crisis nightmare Martin Wolf, Financial Times. One reader thinks the part of the article that discusses “the balance between income and expenditure in the private, government and foreign sectors must sum to zero” looks awfully similar to recent posts on NC, particularly one (here and here) by Rob Parenteau.

Alpert: Two years until we see market-clearing prices in housing market Ed Harrison

Econobloggers need their crisis back Ultimi Barbarorum. Whoops, this was on deck but didn’t make it into Links on a timely basis….still worth reading.

Why Is The Pentagon Worried About Consumer Protection? The Atlantic (hat tip reader John D). This post adopting a puzzled stance strike me as odd. It’s pretty well known that auto dealers get kickbacks, um, fees on loans they sell to car buyers. It is also a pretty good bet that most members of the armed forces are not very sophisticated financially, and hence could be steered into products that are not favorable to them. This isn’t the first time the Pentagon has intervened to protect its staff from predatory financial practices, see here for more background.

It looks like they might really ban naked CDS Eurointelligence

FDIC wants pension funds to prop up failed banks Raw Story

Goldman Sued for Overpaying Executives CBS (hat tip reader John D)

Also, per Lambert Strether, Change.org is running a poll on “ideas for change in America”. He points out, correctly, that single payer is on the list (as in, if you want to remind Team Obama that they blew it, this is one way to quickly register your unhappiness). The other one on the list I am keen about is “Move to Amend: Constitutional Rights for People, Not for Corporations – Abolish Corporate Personhood”. Vote here.

Antidote du jour:

A bonus, hat tip Richard Smith:

Humans found to have sixth taste – fat Sydney Morning Herald (hat tip reader Crocodile Chuck)

Europe bars Wall Street banks from government bond sales Guardian (hat tip reader Steve L)

Strategic defaults on homes on the rise SF Gate (hat tip reader conryw)

High standards at The Washington Post Glenn Greenwald, Salon

Lies, Damned Lies, and Chinese Statistics China Stakes (hat tip reader Michael)

Antidote du jour:

Apologies for thin links. I need to get on a different schedule, something that is less out of whack with normalcy, and this is going to necessitate a cutback in posts over the next few days.

Bonobos opt to share their food BBC

Defenders and Demonizers of Credit Default Swaps Rajiv Sethi (hat tip reader Sundog)

The WP: Obama close to reversing Holder on civilian trials Glenn Greenwald, Salon. More evidence of the “Obama as wuss” theory.

Eurozone Eyes IMF-Style Fund Financial Times and Germany Backs European Version of IMF Wall Street Journal

Real Personal Income Less Transfer Payments Tim Duy

Iceland Voters Reject Bank Bailouts in Crushing Electoral Defeat; Neo-Liberalism In Context Jesse

The Euro Has Been a Smashing Success George Melloan Wall Street Journal (hat tip reader Swedish Lex)

Trading Away Productivity Alan Tolenson and Kevin Kearns. New York Times

Antidote du jour:

Dinosaur extinction link to crater confirmed BBC

Who Does What On Wikipedia? Red Orbit

Greece is a harbinger of austerity for all Jeremy Warner, Telegraph (hat tip reader Swedish Lex)

More Bank Marketing James Kwak. Now I know why Citi increased my credit line…

Stiglitz, Nobel Prize-Winning Economist, Says Federal Reserve System ‘Corrupt’ Huffington Post

Sunday Morning Comics – Goldman Sucks Edition Robert Oak, Economic Populist

Defectors Say Church of Scientology Hides Abuse New York Times. This falls into the “this is news?” category.

Volcker Says Too Soon to Cut U.S. Monetary, Fiscal Stimulus Bloomberg

China’s Bank Chief Says Currency Is Unlikely to Rise New York Times

Antidote du jour (hat tip Chris W):

Grr, I had this ready at 6:00 AM and neglected to post it! Apologies!

New Jersey snow sculpture gets frosty reception BBC (hat tip reader bena gyrek)

Homeland Security fails to secure procurement records Gumbat Stew

Scales of Justice: In Zurich, Even Fish Have a Lawyer Wall Street Journal
Unnatural Acts: Breaking the Fever of Militarism Chris Floyd

Can Japan Say No to Washington? John Feffer, TomGram

The Top Ten Ways to Crack Down on Corporate Financial Crime Counterpunch (hat tip reader Crocodile Chuck)

Expanded use of body scanners slammed by ACLU Raw Story

President Obama: Replace Rahm with Me …an open letter from Michael Moore Huffington Post

Downgrade of consumer financial protection agency threatens Obama’s overhaul plan LA Times

The Dangers of Deficit Reduction Joseph Stiglitz, Project Syndicate (hat tip Mark Thoma)

Los Angeles Fires First Shot In California’s War On Banks, As Cities Seek To Wrangle Out Of Swaps Clusterstock versus Reputational Risk: Living in a Derivative World Institutional Risk Analytics

Obama Plan To Modify Second Mortgages Has Yet To Help One Homeowner Shahien Nasiripour Huffington Post

Antidote du jour:

Falluja doctors report rise in birth defects BBC

Study Says Undersea Release of Methane Is Under Way New York Times. This is seriously not good.

“Greek crisis over” – Our ability to delude ourselves has reached the next level Eurointelligence

U.S. lawmakers launch push to repeal NAFTA Reuters (hat tip reader John D)

German MPs suggest cash-strapped Greece should sell islands The Local (hat tip reader John D)

Arrest Warrant Issued For JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon Consumerist

Adam Smith and the Role of Government Mark Thoma

Clash Over ‘Too Big to Fail’ Wall Street Journal

Not till they’ve nothing left to lose? Rolfe Winkler

Wen Warns of Bank Risks, Pledges Property Crackdown Bloomberg

Obama’s No F.D.R. — Nor Does He Have F.D.R.’s Majority FiveThirtyEight

Senator Bunning’s Universe Paul Krugman New York Times

Let Markets Be Markets Roosevelt Institute. Presentations by Simon Johnson, Elizabeth Warren, Raj Date, Michael Konczai, Josh Rosner, Michael Greenberger, Frank Partnoy, Richard Carnell, and Rob Johnson.

Fed Vice-Chairman Kohn to Retire Jesse. A bit late to this, interesting discussion of possible replacements.

William White presentation to the Reserve Bank of India (hat tip Richard Alford). William White is my new hero. Can we have him at the Fed?

Antidote du jour:

India’s overworked elephants BBC

Virgin Galactic’s Spaceship Readies For Commercial Flights The Atlantic

Greek Corruption Booming, Says Transparency International Der Spiegel

Greece Aid Plea Snubbed by Germany in ‘Historic Moment’ for EU Bloomberg

Consumer Agency Within Fed Seen as Victory for Banks Bloomberg, In case you had any doubts….

Traders optimistic Greek crisis can be contained Financial Times

Children of the Revolution Victor Shih (hat tip reader Paul S)

Wall Street slightly favors Democrats — so the GOP must be in the tank for banks Wall Street Examiner (hat tip reader Pat C).

Commercial Real Estate Values Declining in Real Time DoctoRX

A Failed System: The World Crisis of Capitalist Globalization and its Impact on China Monthly Review (hat tip reader John D). Today’s must read.

Antidote du jour:

Apologies, no Links tonight, should be back to normal programming tomorrow.

Grizzlies encroach on polar bear territory BBC

Newborns’ blood used to build secret DNA database New Scientist

Internet overtakes print in news consumption among Americans ars technica (hat tip reader John D)

Chilean Quake Likely Shifted Earth’s Axis, NASA Scientist Says Business Week

The Home Depot Misery Index Truthout (hat tip reader John D)

France to renew calls for EU carbon tariff EurActiv (hat tip reader Swedish Lex)

Papandreou to outline the mother of all austerity programmes EuroIntelligence

FSA chairman to urge tighter controls on banks Guardian

Is the Fed Eager to Dismiss Deflationary Pressures? Tim Duy

What drives media slant? Jim Hamilton, Econbrowser

Secretary Geithner’s Got Some Explaining to Do American Thinker. I have no idea whether the claims made here are valid, but it makes for an interesting argument. Given that the hastily-drafted Bear deal had an error in the deal documents that proved to be costly, I find it plausible (without ascribing motive, the reasons for the Fed taking majority ownership of AIG seem awfully wild-eyed) that the haste with which this deal was crafted could have led to some problems with it.

How Reagan ruined conservatism Gideon Rachman, Financial Times

Goldman board rejects shareholder demands on pay Reuters. Proof that shareholders cannot contain companies hell bent on diverting profits to management and staff.

Goldman’s rehab: Cranks up p.r. engine to turn sinners into saints New York Post

Goldman Lists New ‘Risk’: Bad Press Wall Street Journal. So get the logic: it isn’t engaging in bad conduct that is the problem. Heavens no. It is being found out and scolded in public for having behaved badly that is the problem. So clearly the solution (per above) is not to behave better BUT 1) engage in better cover-ups and 2) find ways to muzzle or co-opt the press so any reports of dubious conduct will be muted.

Antidote du jour: