Yearly Archives: 2013
Not-So-Smart ALEC: The Right Wing vs. Renewable Energy
Yves here. This post is useful not simply for its discussion of the economics of green energy but also for showing how think tanks fabricate findings to support their political message.
Read more...The Coming World of Killer Mini Drones
If you think drones are bad enough, the military industrial complex is already working on the second generation.
Read more...Bradley Manning 1000 Days in Jail and More Government Crackdown on Transparency
This Real News Network video not only gives a disheartening recap on how various transparency freedom fighters are faring legally, but also provides a sense of how the security state is extending its reach.
Read more...Links 2/22/13
Slimin’ Jamie Dimon’s Scheming to Stick the FDIC with WaMu Losses
It’s really easy to have a fortress balance sheet if you can get other people to eat your losses
Read more...The Dog That Isn’t Barking: Why So Little Pundit Attention to the Caliber of Statistics?
Ah, the halcyon days of early 2007, when economics and finance bloggers would study the clouds on the horizon and debate what they foretold. Maybe I’m not hanging out in the right circles these days but now that financial markets seem to be completely in thrall to central bankers, there isn’t much point in doing fundamental analysis. As a result, from what I can tell, the level of bullshitting among market pundits has risen considerably.
Read more...Yanis Varoufakis: Europe Needs a Hegemonic Germany
By Yanis Varoufakis, professor of economics at the University of Athens. Cross posted from his blog
For six decades Germany was being pampered by a hegemonic America that oversaw the write-off of its wartime debts, the reversal of Allied designs to de-industrialise it and, above all else, the constant generation of the global demand which allowed German manufacturers to concentrate on efficiently producing quality, desirable wares.
Having taken all this for granted for too long, Germany’s elites are now finding it conceptually difficult to come to terms with the new ‘normal’.
Read more...North Korea: Preparing for War
The markets and economic pundits seem to be shrugging off the possibility of any escalation in international tensions. At a minimum, it seems this risk bears closer scrutiny.
Read more...Links 2/21/13
Reform Suggestions for the Rogue Regulator, the OCC, and its Partner in Crime, the Shadow Regulator Promontory Group
As a follow up to our series* on how Bank of America and its supposed independent consultant Promontory Financial Group, colluded to make a mockery of a process designed to provide compensation to borrowers who had suffered abuses in foreclosures during 2009 and 2010, we thought we would offer a few suggestions as to how to forestall future fiascoes of this sort.
Read more...New Whistleblower Describes How Bank of America Flagrantly Violates Dual Tracking, Single Point of Contact Requirements in State/Federal Mortgage Settlement
Remember that big, ballyhooed mortgage settlement of early last year? The one where homeowners got $25 billion of relief (well actually only around $5 billion in cold cash, but why bother with pesky details?) The one made possible by Eric Schneiderman abandoning his fellow state attorneys general to grasp the brass ring of a do-just-about-nothing Residential Mortgage-Backed Task Force? The one that would make banks clean up their act and stop using robosigned documents and deal more fairly with borrowers?
Consent orders are seldom worth the paper they are printed on. The state/Federal settlement of early 2012 is no different.
Read more...Panic-Driven Austerity in the Eurozone and its Implications
By Paul De Grauwe, Professor of international economics, London School of Economics, and former member of the Belgian parliament, and Yuemei Ji, Economist, LICOS, University of Leuven. Cross posted from VoxEU
Eurozone policy seems driven by market sentiment. This column argues that fear and panic led to excessive, and possibly self-defeating, austerity in the south while failing to induce offsetting stimulus in the north. The resulting deflation bias produced the double-dip recession and perhaps more dire consequences. As it becomes obvious that austerity produces unnecessary suffering, millions may seek liberation from ‘euro shackles’.
Read more...Philip Pilkington: Kill The King – Why Are We So Scared of Fiat Money?
By Philip Pilkington, a writer and research assistant at Kingston University in London. You can follow him on Twitter @pilkingtonphil
“If it were done when ’tis done, then ’twere well if were done quickly.”
– Macbeth contemplating the killing of King Duncan
If a Martian were to visit planet Earth there is no doubt that it would find it bizarre how we relate to our current monetary system.
Read more...
