This was the headline of the lead story in the weekend edition of the Financial Times, and oddly, it appears to have been picked up in no other news organ tracked by Google News. Now even though other advanced countries have drug problems too, the US is the only one that thinks it can fly […]
Read more...Confession: I have a weakness for certain types of trash, and one category I enjoy is tacky corporate litigation. What constitutes “tacky” is very much in the eye of the beholder, but I particularly enjoy seeing the aggressor hoist on his own petard. And it’s even more fun when the party that overplayed its hand […]
Read more...When a stalwart member of the right disassociates itself from the Wall Street Journal’s editorial policies, you know things are bad. Thanks to Brad DeLong for this item. From the National Review’s blog, The Corner: ….the Wall Street Journal editorial conference…. I was… well, no, not foaming at the mouth, but gaping in wonder at […]
Read more...I am beginning to wonder whether there is a single statistic related to the state of the economy that can be trusted. The latest data point to bite the dust is the widely-quoted factoid that 13% of subprime mortgages are in default. Turns out not only is this number wrong, but the methodology used to […]
Read more...This New Scientist special report is a great resource for those of you who have the misfortune to know climate change deniers. Here’s the overview: Our planet’s climate is anything but simple. All kinds of factors influence it, from massive events on the Sun to the growth of microscopic creatures in the oceans, and there […]
Read more...It’s curious, and telling, that this story, “Union in move to halt Blackstone IPO,” appears as a headline story at this hour for the Financial Times (meaning it will probably be featured in the news summary in the print edition) yet has no counterpart at the Wall Street Journal or New York Times websites. The […]
Read more...Many consumers can’t afford to trade up to new cars. The years and years of Detroit providing heavy financial subsidies has stopped creating incremental sales. And Ford called its sales in April “terrible.” With that as a starting point, how far down can things go? One reason I imagine this is underreported is New York, […]
Read more...I’m certain you’re familiar with the expression “death wish.” I am beginning to wonder whether America has a banana republic wish. The country has been taking steps towards being a small-minded, elite-dominated, sham democracy. Mind you, I am pointing to a tendency, not an established fact. The US isn’t Haiti, or even Argentina. But we […]
Read more...Oddly, this story, which runs in today’s Financial Times, does not seem to have been reported in the Wall Street Journal or the New York Times (and perhaps not on Bloomberg either, but I am less certain since its search tools for the great unwashed aren’t foolproof). The findings, at least for the Fed, are […]
Read more...This is four years too late, but for those readers (particularly those outside the US) who wonder how Americans were conned into believing going into Iraq was warranted and desirable, watch this video (or read the transcript). The Bush Administration disinformation wouldn’t have worked if the press had exhibited any backbone. This documentary goes through […]
Read more...The Financial Times, in a series of articles published today, probes the workings of the carbon trading business, and uncovers widespread fraud: buyers paying for reductions that don’t occur, organizations extracting large carbon reduction payments for programs they were going to implement regardless, clueless or complicit brokers, offset programs that are shams. We have been […]
Read more...Calculated Risk has a great post today, “‘Bailouts for UnterNerds: The Freddie Mac Story,” that says, in essence, that the “bailout” or “stabilization” for subprime mortgages announced by Freddie Mac today is much less significant and much less helpful to borrowers than it might seem. Freddie Mac stated that it will be purchase $20 billion […]
Read more...The Financial Times reports today on a report prepared by 11 retired US admirals and generals on the security implications of global warming. The authors concluded that global warming would worsen regional conflicts, worsen living standards, and undermine stability. These findings are consistent with earlier reports that discussed the large-scale dislocation that would result from […]
Read more...You seldom hear language like this from anyone in the deal community, particularly a borrower. But Steve Rattner, head of Quadrangle Partners, sees himself as not just your average LBO maven, but also a thoughtful Democrat (he was expected to get a post in a Kerry administration). But also notice that his comments in a […]
Read more...We have yet another instance of the Journal putting a happier face on the news than the Financial Times, this time on the slowly escalating US-China trade dispute. By way of background, we reported earlier on the US’s imposition of punitive duties on Chinese, Indonesian, and South Korean coated paper because these countries were determined […]
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