This article by George Monbiot, “Libertarians are the True Social Parasites,” is priceless. It illustrates the sort of behavior discussed in longer form in Dean Baker’s book, The Conservative Nanny State, namely, of diehard critics of government intervention who nevertheless want a handout when their enterprise goes bad. Note I refrained from including the extensive […]
Read more...Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee Barney Frank has proposed legislation to tighten up practices in mortgage lending. Because Frank is more interested in substance than most legislators, his draft has elicited howls from the usual suspects, no doubt a strong indication that it is on track. Frank’s general aim is to create clearer […]
Read more...The International Herald Tribune gives a particularly interesting report on a semi-annual meeting hosted in Washington by the IMF and World Bank. It illustrates that the influence of the US and of US sponsored institutions is waning. One item mentioned in other reports on these meetings is the concern with the impact of food inflation […]
Read more...Last Sunday, we made this observation about the SIV rescue plan, the so-called Master Liquidity Enhancement Conduit (MLEC), sponsored by Citigroup, JP Morgan, and Bank of America: Yesterday, we voiced doubts that this program could get done. Now that we understand that the primary goals is legerdemain, we think that it is likely that some […]
Read more...Marguerite Yourcenar’s Memoirs of Hadrian contains a stunning line: “I begin to discern the profile of my death.” The news of this evening has given me the perhaps mistaken impression that the end game of this credit crunch is similarly coming into view. Before, it seemed an open question as to what measures would be […]
Read more...Time for some lighter weekend fare…
Read more...After denying the existence of rising disparities in income and wealth on it editorial pages, the Wall Street tells us that income inequality is indeed on the rise. It’s a refreshing change from January, when the Journal misrepresented a speech by New York Fed President Timothy Geithner in which he said that the growing concentration […]
Read more...Faithful readers, I hope you will bear with me over the next couple of days. I am having weird problems with my mice, and needless to say, the lack of a properly functioning mouse is a big obstacle to efficient computer use. The result will likely be fewer posts and/or fewer links in posts. I […]
Read more...A page one story in tomorrow’s Wall Street Journal tells us that a Wall Street Journal/NBC poll found that Republicans have joined Democrats in having a negative view of “free” trade. As we have discussed in earlier posts, more open trade can be a good thing, but not if entered into naively. Our system is […]
Read more...Ah, time for a reality check on the Wall Street Journal/Administration party line. Here we’ve been told how horrible Sarbanes-Oxley is, and how those tough corporate governance measures are bad for the competitiveness of US markets. Like many of the things the officialdom in Washington has been telling the public, this line of reasoning doesn’t […]
Read more...A good article by Clive Crook of the Financial Times discusses the improving fortunes of unions in America. Crook looks at some of the indicators their rising influence (key sign: fawning Democratic hopefuls) and how they can aid as well as impede economic activity. Even though Crook’s piece is helpful, he somehow seems wide of […]
Read more...As rating agencies came into renewed focus this week as a result of Senate Banking Committee hearings on their role in the structured credit mess, one suggestion appears to have been gotten little play in the financial media. Yesterday, the Financial Times reported that Eric Mindich, CEO of Eton Park Capital and newly appointed head […]
Read more...Consider the ironies in the discussion of free trade. It’s widely depicted by economists to be a good thing, and anyone who opposed it is considered to be economically illiterate. Yet the system we have deviates considerably from the free trade ideal and is more accurately called managed trade. And in this system of managed […]
Read more...In a March post, “Private Equity’s Image Problem,” we expressed considerable reservations about Blackstone’e effort to form a lobbying group (the Private Equity Council) to among other things, press for the continued favorable tax treatment of carried interest, and specifically, the approach taken by its leader. From that post: So the industry could use some […]
Read more...A great deal of ink has been spilled on yesterday’s 50 basis point cut in the Fed funds rate and parallel reduction in the discount rate. I am very time stressed, so this quick reaction will (hopefully) be followed by a more thoughtful piece in the next day or so. First, even though I think […]
Read more...