This is it for me, at least for this chapter. I am off to join some people who don’t much appreciate voices singing out of key, and while they might be able to get over my public disdain for coaches who punt in opposing territory, it would be rather awkward to continue to point out [...]
Archive for the ‘Meltdown’ Category
The End of the Internet
Posted in Corruption, Education, Energy Policy, Health Care, Housing Crisis, Housing Policy, Industrial Policy, Inspirational, Labor Policy, Meltdown, Middle East, Miscellaneous, NAFTA, Obama, War on Terror on December 15, 2009 | 29 Comments »
Vegas, With Real Gambling
Posted in Architecture, Corruption, Foreigners, Housing Crisis, Meltdown, Middle East, Obama, Tim Geithner on November 30, 2009 | 1 Comment »
I am enjoying the goings-on in Dubai tremendously. It’s like the field mouse of an economics drug trial: take every extreme symptom, jam it into one place of absolutely no global consequence, and then try to figure out the cure. Suppose you had a tiny country that decided it wanted to be important. Playing on [...]
Couple of Blog Links
Posted in China, Corruption, Industrial Policy, Labor Policy, Meltdown, Obama on November 17, 2009 | 5 Comments »
Short post to follow up on two things that were on Baseline recently. First of all, take James’ advice and check out this Interfluidity post: An enduring truth about financial regulation is this: Given the discretion to do so, financial regulators will always do the wrong thing. Steve touches on several of the themes I [...]
Is This an Accident?
Posted in Ben Bernanke, George W. Bush, Meltdown, Tim Geithner on November 12, 2009 | 4 Comments »
In the category of a stopped clock being right twice a day, the Senate seems to have come up with a compelling piece of bank regulation. I don’t like its chances to get passed, but it would be great for the nation: WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats circulated a plan Tuesday that would impose sweeping curbs [...]
Policing the Police
Posted in Basketball, Corruption, Housing Policy, Labor Policy, Meltdown, Obama, Soccer on November 9, 2009 | 3 Comments »
James Kwak over at Baseline has an post about the accounting treatment of Bank of America and Fannie Mae; quoting John Hempton: If Bank of America were to provide at the same rate its quarterly losses would be 50-80 billion and it would be completely bereft of capital – it would be totally cactus. It [...]
Way Under the Radar
Posted in Corruption, George W. Bush, Health Care, Labor Policy, Meltdown, Obama, Transportation Policy on November 5, 2009 | 3 Comments »
I find it awfully difficult to care about county elections. Luckily, Ben Adler seems willing to look at them, and he picked up something interesting: Unlike the New York City mayoral, or the Virginia governor’s race, there is a really bad sign for Democrats out of the East Coast:… Republicans made inroads in New York’s [...]
The Fierce Urgency of Something
Posted in Abortion, Ben Bernanke, Corruption, Dick Cheney, Education, Energy Policy, George W. Bush, Health Care, Immigration, Marriage Equality, Meltdown on November 4, 2009 | 4 Comments »
Even by off-cycle election standards, this was an odd one. Perhaps it’s just payback for such a good election last year. I’ll trade watching Chris Christie do his Sopranos impression for never having had to listen to this: It’s been just 68 days since that afternoon in Dayton, Ohio, when Senator McCain introduced me as [...]
With or Against the Grain?
Posted in Ben Bernanke, Meltdown, Tim Geithner, United Kingdom on November 3, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Hand it to the UK. Under pressure from the wonks in Brussels – I suppose there is something to being ruled by unaccountable political science PhDs – the government has taken the first, halting steps toward breaking up three of its largest financial institutions: The British government — spurred on by European regulators — is [...]
Currency Thoughts
Posted in Meltdown on October 28, 2009 | 6 Comments »
David Einhorn made an excellent speech to the Value Investors Conference: On the anniversary of Lehman’s failure, President Obama gave a terrific speech. He said, “Those on Wall Street cannot resume taking risks without regard for the consequences, and expect that next time, American taxpayers will be there to break the fall.” Later he advocated [...]
Good Allies, Just Too Few
Posted in Finance, George W. Bush, Meltdown, Obama, Tim Geithner on October 23, 2009 | 8 Comments »
Not many people like the idea of breaking up financial institutions, but if I have to be part of a tiny minority, I’ll take this one: “People say I’m old-fashioned and banks can no longer be separated from nonbank activity,” Mr. Volcker said, acknowledging criticism that he is nostalgic for an earlier era. “That argument,” [...]
