Category Archives: Politics

Freddie and Fannie Outside Supervisor Ousted

A new bit of chicanery illustrates why it’s a lousy idea for the government to allow wards of the state like the GSEs and AIG to operate like kinda-sort private enterprises. When banks were nationalized in Sweden and Norway, the top brass and the boards were fired, and they were given strict goals and operating […]

The Kanjorski “We’re Tough on TBTF” Headfake

Dear God, if you read the media, you’d really think the Congressional huffing and puffing at the banking industry was going to solve the “too big to fail” problem, or even make much of a difference. Folks, I hate to tell you, these remedies fall so far short of what it would take as to […]

Guest Post: Senator Dodd has Introduced a Sweeping Financial Reform Bill. Please Help Me Figure Out If Its Good or Bad, and What Its Missing

By George Washington of Washington’s Blog. A source on the Hill sent me the following summary of Senator Dodd’s proposed financial reform bill. My source notes: The summary leaves out Sections 1201-1204, which contain serious changes to the Federal Reserve bank structures, transparency elements, and restrictions on 13(3). Comments and observations are always welcome. Dodd […]

Mishkin Defend Bubbles (and of Course, the Fed)

The press becomes more surreal with every passing day. If we didn’t all have a stake in the outcomes, this would make for great theater. First we have the absurd spectacle of bankers claiming that they are doing God’s work. Great! Then they should be willing to do it for free. I don’t recall the […]

Guest Post: Will the Democrats Lose in 2010 (or 2012) Because They Won’t Pass Real Financial Reforms?

By George Washington of Washington’s Blog. Yesterday, Elliot Spitzer said that the White House’s defense of the financial status quo will give Republicans powerful ammunition in the 2010 elections. Democratic cheerleader Markos Moulitsas (the “Kos” behind Daily Kos) wrote the following about the Democratic losses in several state elections: Democratic turnout collapsed. This is a […]

Trouble looms in Ireland after debt cut two notches and deficits soar

Submitted by Edward Harrison of Credit Writedowns I am posting this in the interest of widening the discussion at Naked Capitalism to include some topics in Europe. Fitch, the credit rating agency, has just downgraded the sovereign debt ratings for the Republic of Ireland from AA+ to AA-. That is two notches and is proof-positive […]

The creeping power grab by the executive branch and Federal Reserve

By Edward Harrison of Credit Writedowns Yves is tied up in the never-ending ordeal that is writing a book, so I will fill in a few gaps by posting on NC today. Let’s wish Yves well in getting this thing sorted. The power grab at the Federal Reserve is a topic I first broached back […]

Trouble Ahead: Can the Right Seize the Banking Reform Issue in 2010?

Eliot Spitzer explains how the White House defense of the status quo will give Republicans powerful ammunition in the 2010 elections. Few things are as potent in politics as calling for change at a moment of fundamental dissatisfaction with the status quo. Nobody should know this better than the current White House. Gauzy words describing […]

Guest Post: Galbraith Says Administration’s Sole Goal is to Restore System of 5 or 10 Years Ago, But Confidence Won’t be Restored Unless Fraud Which Caused the Crash is Investigated

By George Washington of Washington’s Blog. As I have repeatedly written, the largest U.S. banks have repeatedly gone bankrupt due to wild speculation which was blessed by the Fed, and then the government covered up their bankruptcy. Indeed, the New York Times writes today about one of the too big to fails: Over the past […]

Guest Post: Breaking Up The Too Big to Fails Will NOT Harm America’s Ability to Compete with Foreign Banks

By George Washington of Washington’s Blog. Preface: Please read to the end to see the humorous quote. I have previously debunked numerous false arguments used to defend the too big to fails. See this and this. But the apologists for the TBTFs are now arguing that breaking up the beached whales … er, giant banks […]

Bank-Favoring Censorship by Congress

Harper’s Magazine has written up the lengths to which the authorities will go in censoring views that dissent with what is the unstated official policy: that no demand of the banking industry is too unreasonable not to be catered to. The object lesson is the gutting of the falsely-branded derivatives reform bill. It arrived with […]

The choice is between increasing or decreasing aggregate demand

By Edward Harrison of Credit Writedowns. DoctoRx, Rob Parenteau and Marshall Auerback have each written articles here to bring clarity to some issues I first raised at the beginning of the month in my post, “The recession is over but the depression has just begun.” As I see it, the issue we are debating has […]