Yearly Archives: 2013

Nathan Tankus: News Flash – North Korea is a Rational Actor

By Nathan Tankus, a student and research assistant at the University of Ottawa. You can follow him on Twitter at @NathanTankus (https://twitter.com/NathanTankus)

Sometimes debates that surround a country’s policies are about whether that country’s officials are taking the correct course of action. Other times, however, when a country is perceived as a virulent enemy, the attitude forms that their actions aren’t just wrong, they are irrational and crazy (it’s telling that in a society obsessed with rationality and the “rationality” of the market, our worst insult is “irrational”). As a result, it is radical and disreputable to argue that these countries are pursing their objectives in rational manner. North Korea is one of the best examples of this dynamic the post-war period has to offer. As such, I think it’s time to offer a disreputable opinion of North Korea.

GAO Report on Foreclosure Reviews Misses How Regulators Conspired with Banks Against Homeowners

I suppose one has to be grateful for any official pushback against failed regulatory initiatives, such as the just-released GAO report criticizing the Independent Foreclosure Reviews. Of course, in this instance, I am charitably assuming that these reviews were a failure. They have certainly proven to be an embarrassment to the lead actor, the OCC, which has tried to maintain as low a profile as possible on this topic rather than offer any defenses.

But “failure” assumes that the OCC and the Fed did not achieve their real objective, which was to protect the banks. That hardly appears to be the case.

Obama’s Benefit-Cuts Budget Takes More from Seniors than from the Wealthy

By Gaius Publius. Follow him on Twitter @Gaius_Publius. Cross posted from AmericaBlog

Social Security benefit cuts are in Obama’s budget. It’s official. Barack Obama, he of the Hope and the Change, is putting benefit cuts in his next budget proposal, due for release next Wednesday, April 10. (If you were hoping he’d change, he won’t; he’s always been this guy.)

Here are a couple of things to know about this amazing Democratic budget proposal.

Links 4/7/13

Obama at the Hamilton Project, 2006: “This is not a bloodless process.”

By lambert strether of Corrente.

There’s been a sort of contest among the skeptics and hippies for the “Who Called Their Shot on Obama First” title, which I believe Adolph Reed holds (Village Voice, 1996), with Bruce Dixon (2007) also holding an honored place; both writers knew Obama in Chicago, which helped. However, along with Ken Silverstein from Harpers, left blogger A Tiny Revolution called his shot in 2006 (hat tip, Gaius Publius (hat tip jawbone)), based on Obama’s appearance at the first meeting of Bob Rubin’s The Hamilton Project, where he was the only Senator to appear. Here’s the video:

New Zealand: Pseudo-Financial Companies, and GT Group, Both Still Going Strong.

By Richard Smith, who would be a member of the International Consortium of Interfering Bloggers, if there was such a thing.

Links 4/6/13

The BLS Jobs Report Covering March 2013: Blah Trend Numbers but Some Seasonal Strength Although Not As Good As Previous Years

By Hugh, who is a long-time commenter at Naked Capitalism. Originally published at Corrente. A complete archive of Hugh’s reports can be found here.

The short form: In March, in the Household survey, the BLS undercount of those unemployed grew, and the labor force became smaller. It will take 6-12 months to know whether the declines we are seeing in the size of the labor force are cyclical or secular. The adjusted and unadjusted numbers for the labor force showed different pictures. Adjusted (trend line), the labor force fell with employment and unemployment also falling. That is nearly half a million workers left or were defined out of the labor force leaving the mix of the labor force little changed between employed and unemployed, and between full and part time. Unadjusted (where the economy is now), the decline in the labor force was smaller, 215,000 removed from the labor force. And the mix in the labor force was more positive. Employment increased 470,000 and full time employment grew by 605,000. Still while the unadjusted data were showing improvement, the rate of improvement showed some weakness as compared to the trend. Nor is any strength to be found in earnings with wages for all employees marginally increasing and wages for blue collar employees marginally declining. Neither wages nor hours have shown much improvement over the last 12 months. Average weekly hours for all workers still remain below 35, the definition of full time employment.

Your Humble Blogger Appears on RT’s “Truthseeker”

I’ve been violating the Gore Vidal rule of media (“never turn down the opportunity to have sex or be on TV”) but in Vidal’s day, TV was broadcast, with mass audiences and major impact. Trust me, if you blink, you’ll miss the bit where I make a couple of observations in this new RT show.

Launching Our First (Free) Ebook on the OCC/Fed Foreclosure Review Fiasco

As a result of many reader requests, we’ve turned our series based on testimony from whistleblowers at Bank of America and PNC on the whitewash more formally known as the Independent Foreclosure Reviews into an ebook, which we are releasing today. Please download, read, and share!

Links 4/5/13

Time to Look Behind the Curtain and See Who is Against Full Employment

Have you noticed how political leaders are nowhere near as upset about unemployment as they ought to be? What gives?