Author Archives: Yves Smith

Now before anyone gets excited about the specter of bankers doing a perp walk, the early word in a Wall Street Journal story on criminal charges being readied against former Barclays bankers says that the prosecutions will target “midlevel traders.” This exercise thus continues the established pattern of small fry serving as human shields for managers and executives.

Links 6/6/13

Mortgage Rate Increases Starting to Bite

Bloomberg reports that that staple of mortgage funding, the 30 year fixed rate mortgage, has seen its interest rate increase from 3.48% a month ago to 4.16% as of yesterday. By contrast, the highest rate the 30 year mortgage reached in the previous year as of mid-March had been 3.85%.

One analyst, Mark Hanson, sees evidence that the dropoff in refinancings has been impressive

Dan Kervick: Do Banks Create Money from Thin Air?

Yves here. This post by Kervick is LONG, but that’s because he unpacks the “creation” of money in a step-by-step manner. Your patience will be rewarded.

Dave Dayen on Student Loans as Medieval Indentures

Dave Dayen’s latest article at Salon makes a critical point about student debt, that is it fundamentally misleading to call it a loan.

Bill Black: How Elite Economic Hucksters Drive America’s Biggest Fraud Epidemics

Bill Black describes the spurious efforts to justify America’s recent fraudfests.

Links 6/5/13

Puzzling Economic Sightings

Now and again I ask readers for input on what they are seeing locally, a sort of regional check on the statistics and media reports on how the economy is faring.

I’ve seen some things in my backyard that have me puzzled and wondered if readers see similar patterns.

Sasha Breger: How Commodities Hoarding Distorts Food Prices

Despite financial firms’ pious claims to the contrary, their commodities machinations extract wealth from agricultural providers, and thus also ultimately from consumers.

Bill Black: Great Moments in Nobel Prize History – 2007 Winner Pumps for Plutocracy, Billionaire CEOs

The first article in a series by Black on the remarkable, in the bad sense of the work, work by Nobel prize winners on regulation.

Nikkei Disses Third Dose of Abenomics, Falls Nearly 4%

The financial media and investors were waiting tonight for Prime Minister Abe’s latest announcement on the extreme economic sport known as Abenomics. But his new installment dashed hopes, and after a short-lived rally, the Nikkei is down over 3%. But after the wild ride since May 22, when the Japanese index plunged 7.3%, a 3% decline is coming to look almost like normal daily volatility. (Well, now that it’s down nearly 4%, it might be a beast of a different color).