Antidote du Jour
Dear readers, sorry for my absence, I’ve been asked to turn around proof pages and have hours yet to go, eek.
Read more...Yearly Archives: 2009
Guest Post: Herding the Sheep
By George Washington of Washington’s Blog. Financial insider and commentator Yves Smith wrote an essay last week entitled “MSM Reporting as Propaganda” arguing that the government has been using propaganda to make people think that things are getting better, no one is angry, and – therefore – no one should get upset: The message, quite […]
Read more...John Meriwether is back, risk must be too
Submitted by Edward Harrison of Credit Writedowns John Meriwether, the 62-year old former Salomon bond trader and LTCM wizard is back for, what is this, his fourth go round. For those of you who don’t remember the 1980s, John Meriwether was the biggest of the ‘big swinging dicks’ on Wall Street, leading Salomon Brothers to […]
Read more...Links 10/22/09
McCain’s Male Voters Suffered Testosterone Drop PsychCentral (hat tip reader John D) Paulson revealed policy at Goldman Sachs meeting, book alleges Guardian Compromise Bill Could Block States on Bank Rules New York Times. This is not good news. Bernard Madoff enjoys eating pizza with the Mafia in prison Telegraph $13 an Hour? 500 Sign Up, […]
Read more...The Problem is Not TBTF, but TDTR
Robert Johnson, former chief economist to the Senate Banking Committee, submitted testimony to a House Financial Services Committee hearing on OTC derivatives. His written testimony is to be posted today. While his remarks are worth reading in their entirety, one bit that caught my attention was his discussion of TDTR, or “Too Difficult to Resolve.” […]
Read more...Guest Post: Banks Must Protect Consumers to Protect Themselves
By Jonathan Mintz, the Commissioner of the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs, and Richard H. Neiman, the Superintendent of Banks for the State of New York: For over a year, most of us have agreed that reform of our financial regulatory system is essential to our future financial stability and economic growth. Yet […]
Read more...Pay Czar Decides to Collect a Few Scalps, a Sign of Weakness
The Wall Street Journal reports that the pay czar, Kenneth Feinberg, is going to cut executive comp at 7 TARP recipients for the 25 most highly paid employees. Does this really mean anything? The press will noise it up as significant (and some outlets will no doubt finger wag at this “interference”) but the short […]
Read more...Guest Post: How Did America Fall So Fast?
By George Washington of Washington’s Blog. In 2000, America was described as the sole remaining superpower – or even the world’s “hyperpower”. Now we’re in real trouble (at the very least, you have to admit that we’re losing power and wealth in comparison with China). How did it happen so fast? As everyone knows, the […]
Read more...Guest Post: Congressmen Grayson, Clay and Miller Introduce CFPA Amendment to Help Reduce Looting
By George Washington of Washington’s Blog. Congressmen Grayson, Clay and Miller are introducing an amendment to the Consumer Financial Protection Agency bill: Today we will offer the “Financial Autopsy” amendment. The Grayson/Clay/Miller amendment is essential to attacking the root problem of consumer bankruptcy and foreclosure because it requires the CFPA to do a financial audit […]
Read more...Ms. Watkins, why does Charlie have lit dynamite?
You are a teacher at a local primary school. Each school day you and some of your colleagues watch over the children at the school playground to make sure all of the children follow the rules and keep their hands to themselves. Your role is to keep the children safe. Mind you, this is a […]
Read more...Frontline – The Warning
Watch the hour-long retrospective which aired last night on PBS’s Frontline. It should be very enlightening in regards to the seeds of the bubble and meltdown. It examines who the players in the 1990s and 2000s were, what their attitude to regulation was, and how lax regulation created a bubble and a bust. Also see […]
Read more...Paul Volcker, Mervyn King, Glass Steagall, and the Real TBTF Problem
Paul Volcker wants to roll the clock back and restore Glass Steagall, the 1933 rule that separated commercial banking from investment banking, but Team Obama is politely ignoring him. Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank of England, is giving a more strident version of the same message, calling on the biggest financial firms to […]
Read more...Guest Post: A New Civil Rights Movement is Afoot for the Middle Class
By John Bougearel, Director of Futures and Equity Research at Structural Logic. The core of America is the middle class. And Harvard Law Professor and chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel COP ( the COP is to oversee TARP, the Troubled Assets Relief Program) Elizabeth Warren tells us that the core of America is being […]
Read more...Guest Post: Biden Says “It’s a Depression For Millions of Americans”
George Washington of Washington’s Blog. Joe Biden said yesterday: My grandpop used to say … “When the guy in Minooka’s out of work, it’s an economic slowdown. When your brother- in-law’s out of work, it’s a recession. When you’re out of work, it’s a depression.” [Asked how he views it, Biden responded:] Well, it’s a […]
Read more...Links 10/20/09
Using Human “Wetware” to Control Robots h+ (hat tip reader David C) Cosmic pattern to UK tree growth BBC The Myth of The Strong Dollar Policy Macro Man Why Obama Has to do What Letterman Did: Refuse to Pay Hush Money Robert Reich (hat tip DoctoRx) Computational Complexity and Information Asymmetry in Financial Products Alea. […]
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