By George Washington of Washington’s Blog. How well has the Federal Reserve performed for America? Mainstream pundits, of course, say that Bernanke has saved the world . . . . but they said the same thing about Greenspan. So let’s look at the actual historical record to determine how well the Fed has done. Initially, […]
Read more...Links return September 30.
Read more...By George Washington of Washington’s Blog. As everyone knows, the big banks have gotten bigger and bigger. Noted economist Mark Zandi says we have an oligopoly of banks, and that “the oligopoly has tightened”. The TARP Inspector – Neil Barofsky – told Huffington Post yesterday that, because of the consolidation in the banking industry: I […]
Read more...Served by Jesse of Le Café Américain One cannot help but note that Team Obama is trying to derail serious proposals regarding financial reform for Wall Street at the G20 meeting, as we suggested they would. The concerns raised by US revelations at the G20 today about new intelligence regarding Iran’s secret underground nuclear facility […]
Read more...Regular Links return on September 30.
Read more...Submitted by Edward Harrison of Credit Writedowns I have to admit to hyping the debate now swirling about protectionism. I believe that tariffs are not a very good solution to a trade problem as they are likely to result in retaliation and/or escalation. Moreover, they end up protecting small groups at the expense of higher […]
Read more...The following is a submission by reader Kalpa who writes Financial News Express. While traveling this past weekend, I picked up a real estate booklet in the charming middle-of-the-U.S.A. town which I found myself in. Most interesting was the inside cover page note to prospective home buyers: First–time homebuyers who would otherwise qualify for the […]
Read more...Submitted by Edward Harrison of Credit Writedowns At issue here is the news that the Obama Administration dropped plans to force financial institutions to offer “plain vanilla” financial products that are simple enough for consumers to understand. My headline is editorial enough on this issue. So, rather than editorialize this latest announcement, I’ll quote from […]
Read more...Links return on Sept. 30….
Read more...The following is a submission from Naked Capitalism contributor Swedish Lex. While some observers of U.S. politics lament the lack of progress in reforming the country’s financial system, the European financial industry has abruptly awoken to the EU’s new resolve re-shape the continent’s financial system. How far and how fast the EU intends to go […]
Read more...Submitted by Edward Harrison of Credit Writedowns. Let’s say I run a company. For the sake of argument, we’ll call it a shoe store in New York City. I am making $100,000 net per year now. But, I look around me and see huge opportunity for growth. So I go to my bank and ask […]
Read more...By George Washington of Washington’s Blog. William K. Black, Associate Professor of Economics and Law at the University of Missouri – Kansas City, and the former head S&L regulator, has written the following fantastic new proposal concerning the giant, insolvent banks. Posted/reprinted with Professor Black’s permission. William K. Black Associate Professor of Economics and Law […]
Read more...Below is a guest contribution by reader Michael Dokupil. Michael points out that ratings agencies and banks are incented to support a market in so-called toxic assets rated triple-A because of a strange regulatory arbitrage. Basel II rules allow a bank to keep much less capital on hand to support AAA assets than is necessary […]
Read more...Links will be back on the 30th!
Read more...By George Washington of Washington’s Blog. As Absolute Return Partners wrote in its July newsletter: The most important investment decision you will have to make this year and possibly for years to come is whether to structure your portfolio for deflation or inflation. So which is it, inflation or deflation? This is obviously a hot […]
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