Yearly Archives: 2009

Links 6/3/09

Plants ‘can recognise themselves’ BBC The Math Gender Gap Explained Newsweek. The notion that more men do well at elite math looks more and more shaky. Privacy study shows Google’s eyes are everywhere San Francisco Business Times These Dark Satanic Mills Epicurean Dealmaker More on bank lending data Econbrowser, and More on the fall in […]

Read more...

Fed Setting Higher-Than-Stress-Test Bar for Exiting From TARP

Well, once in a while the authorities exceed my low expectations, and this is one of those instances. The Fed is insisting that the bank recipients of TARP fund meet a higher standard, in terms of balance sheet strength, than set in the stress tests. The banks are grumbling that this is not what they […]

Read more...

Guest post: Central banks will face a Scylla and Charybdis flation challenge for years

Submitted by Edward Harrison of the site Credit Writedowns. Nearly a month ago, back on May 5th, I highlighted some testimony by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke before congress in a post labelled, “Bernanke expects recovery later this year".  In his testimony, Bernanke used the phrase ‘Scylla and Charybdis’ to describe the Federal Reserve’s policy […]

Read more...

Guest Post: GM’s Final Clawback?

Submitted by Leo Kolivakis, publisher of Pension Pulse. I just got off the phone with a buddy of mine who used to work as a treasurer in a small bank here in Montreal. We were talking about the sharp move in the Canadian dollar over the last few trading days. You should check out the […]

Read more...

Links 6/2/09

Dolphin and whale climate fears BBC Supreme Court to Review ‘Business Method’ Patents Business Week The Summer Home Bust Daniel Gross, Slate GM fallout set to be windfall for Japan automakers MarketWatch High Anxiety (about Interest and Inflation Rates) Menzie Chinn, Econbrowser. Particularly useful. Grand Theft Auto: How Stevie the Rat bankrupted GM Greg Palast. […]

Read more...

Philly Fed’s Plosser Not Keen re PPIP, Fed’s Quasi-Fiscal Role

The Financial Times has a brief write up of an interview with the head of the Philadelphia Fed, Charles Plosser. His remarks seem more anodyne than they really are: The Federal Reserve should not be involved in financing toxic assets that date from the bubble era, Charles Plosser, president of the Philadelphia Fed, has told […]

Read more...

Links 6/1/09

Close encounter with a wild hippo BBC Consumer link to rainforest destruction Financial Times. I’m surprised that this was considered not proven. Treasuries `Only Game in Town’ as China Boosts Holdings While Dollar Falls Bloomberg I Am Marla’s Observations On Artificial Selection In Chrysler Dealerships Marla Singer, Zero Hedge. In case you missed this, you […]

Read more...

Robert Reich: GM Bailout A Wasteful Way to Ameliorate Pain

The last person one might expect to criticize the Obama Administration bailout of GM is a unapologetic liberal like Robert Reich, labor secretary under Clinton. Yet he does precisely that in today’s Financial Times. And his logic is similar to the arguments made here and elsewhere against the bank rescue operations. Unlike some other commentators, […]

Read more...