Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.

Simon Johnson on Barclay’s and markets

Simon Johnson at Baseline Scenario points to basic fraud on the business practices for LIBOR: The behavior at Barclays has all the hallmarks of fraud, pure and simple – intentional deception for personal gain, causing significant damage to others. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission nailed the detailed mechanics of this deception in plain English in […]

Euro area troubles, banks, and sovereign debt connections

Economist Mark Blyth talks on Europe and rescuing the banks… See 35 minutes in on context for LIBOR troubles. (70% of the special investment vehicles designed to pump and dump mortgages belong to European not American banks … Euro banks listed their periphery debt as Tier One Capital under Basel.)

NYT economic reporting week of 9th

Upcoming reports and meetings from the NYT ECONOMIC REPORTS: Data will include consumer credit for May (Monday); the trade deficit for May and wholesale trade inventories for May (Wednesday); weekly jobless claims and import prices for June (Thursday); and the producer price index for June and the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment index for […]