Yes, it’s the end of the summer, but the Fed boys worked over the weekend, so what’s the excuse of Hank Paulson & Co.? The saber rattling for the Fannie and Freddie rescue program to be unveiled is getting louder and louder. We had an unmistakable demand from the Chinese over the weekend, if you […]
Read more...We haven’t written much about the environment since the credit markets got to be so much fun, but in the early days of the blog we did give it more attention than we do now, so this post isn’t as off topic as it might seem. With all the tooth-gnashing about oil, food, and greenhouse […]
Read more...The total surveillance society program is further along in London than in the US (the prevalence of CCTV, for instance), but it’s still a shocker to see a comment in the Financial Times, which many consider to be the best paper in the English language, advocating Newspeak. For those of you who need a refresher, […]
Read more...Priest to hold nun beauty pageant BBC Local councils accused of spying on residents’ sex lives Telegraph Carbon-neutral Ziggurat pyramid could house 1.1 million in Dubai engadget Judge restricts online reporting of case New Zealand Herald Bank Holiday Poem: The Dollar MacroMan Is the Accounting Oversight Board Really Independent? Floyd Norris, New York Times Japan’s […]
Read more...As the Wall Street Journal tells us, the Fed and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency are issuing more “memorandums of understanding”. The MOUs not only put the bank on notice that its finances or controls aren’t up to snuff, but also call for specific remedies, such as cutting dividends, raising capital, or […]
Read more...Readers may know I am not much of a fan of Larry Summers’ occasional comments in the Financial Times. He has a tendency to come forth with views of how things work that sound nice but too often are at odds with facts on the ground. His latest offering scores better than previous offerings as […]
Read more...We were pretty skeptical of the idea that Korea Development Bank would buy a stake in Lehman, particularly since Dick Fuld seems a bit in denial as to what a stake in the storied firm might fetch these days (for instance, for the asset management operations, he wanted a buyback option. Let’s see, you are […]
Read more...When Good Lizards Go Bad: Komodo Dragons Take Violent Turn Wall Street Journal Global warming time bomb trapped in Arctic soil: study PhysOrg. That Arctic no-longer-so-permafrost is full of greenhouse gases…. Recession indicators Jim Hamilton Ben Stein Watch: August 24, 2008 Felix Salmon. Felix finds the smoking gun for what we Ben Stein sufferers have […]
Read more...While the Fannie/Freddie crisis has come to the fore, the money markets continue to signal heightened worry about risk. Indeed, expert opinion and forward trading suggest that the year end crunch will be worse this year than last. Normally, liquidity starts to fall in December as banks start to square their books; last year, it […]
Read more...Go Willem Buiter! The London School of Economics prof and former Bank of England and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development official has been saying for some time that the Fed suffers from “cognitive regulatory capture” and has been far too responsive to the needs of Wall Street. It’s been puzzling to watch his detailed, […]
Read more...We have noted before that oil supply and demand data is pretty poor. Let’s face it, this is a product that is traded internationally with no central mechanism for purchases and sales. And certain important actors, namely OPEC members, are less than fully cooperative. But investors and commentators, hungry for anything that passes for hard […]
Read more...Indian car factory faces ‘siege’ BBC China Blocks Access to iTunes Store Wired. China’s Olympic Sized Bust Michael Shedlock. Not surprising. The locals deserted LA and Sydney during the Olympics and the tourist influx was less than the exodus (although at least in Sydney, the natives who stayed partied). Student study unmasks sushi scandal in […]
Read more...Forgive me tonight for relying more heavily on other people’s material than usual, but 1) it’s good stuff, 2) it’s an end of summer weekend, and I’m suffering from diminished productivity (the Olympics haven’t helped), 3) I foolishly wasted a lot of time and energy corresponding with a reader who was mightily unhappy with my […]
Read more...When you think you’ve read everything worth considering on a given topic, once in a while something comes along to prove you wrong. A case in point is this post by Charles Calomiris at VoxEu on the subprime mess. It is longer than the standard VoxEU offering, but well worth your attention. Calomiris not only […]
Read more...Argentine dog saves abandoned baby BBC Meet Yoda the cat with FOUR ears Mail Online Japanese scientists seek quake secrets in Parthenon design PhysOrg Beijing’s Bad Faith Olympics New York Times Medium Lobster: Your guide to America’s next vice president Guardian. Funny The Ebay Fannie/Freddie Insider Selling Sign Paul Kedrosky Corporate Competitiveness: Are Taxes Really […]
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