ataxingmatter Linda Beale makes a statement: The International Banking Association wants more tax goodies from Uncle Sam–for branches of foreign banks. The idea seems to be that anything that has been done for domestic banks ought to be available to them too–even when it is Treasury’s decision not to enforce a clear statement of Congress […]

by cactus The Smartest Morons in the Room Back when Enron imploded, I was wondering to myself about the motivation of some of the players. I can understand the greed and fraud, and the looking aside when fraud was being perpetrated. I like to believe that I would never get caught up in that, but […]

rdan SEC. 125. CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT PANEL.(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is hereby established the CongressionalOversight Panel (hereafter in this section referred to asthe ‘‘Oversight Panel’’) as an establishment in the legislative branch.(b) DUTIES.—The Oversight Panel shall review the current stateof the financial markets and the regulatory system and submitthe following reports to Congress:(1) REGULAR REPORTS.—(A) IN GENERAL.—Regular reports […]

rdan The NYT describes the beginning role of the committee and chairman Elizabeth Warren to follow the money, in addition to GAO report. …“You can’t just say, ‘Credit isn’t moving through the system,’ ” she said in her first public comments since being named to the panel. “You have to ask why.” If the answer […]

by cactus Passing on Corporate Taxes to Consumers and the Bail-Out There seems to be relatively irrational belief among many conservatives that corporate taxes are simply passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices. It leaves out the obvious – if companies felt they could simply raise prices, they’d do it whether there […]

Another health story by the Boston Globe gives new meaning to the term group practice: When Dr. Gene Lindsey arrived to see his 4 p.m. appointment on a recent Thursday, his nine patients already were seated on folding chairs arranged in a semicircle around a table of snacks. Lindsey, a cardiologist, shook each patient’s hand, […]

hat tip radamisto NYT notes: …using Citigroup as Exhibit A — how some of our country’s best-paid bankers were overrated dopes who had no idea what they were selling, or greedy cynics who did know and turned a blind eye. But it wasn’t only the bankers. This financial meltdown involved a broad national breakdown in […]

In one of the stupidest wastes of Treasury monies this month—a major accomplishment, though AIG hasn’t hit the trough again yet, so there might be hope—the Treasury wants to subsidize new mortgages (link to CR): Under the plan, Treasury would buy securities underpinning loans guaranteed by the two mortgage giants, which are temporarily under the […]

This is the question raised by Brenda Rosser in a couple of posts at Econospeak Is it true? To which Barkley Rosser (no relation to Brenda and in fact living on the opposite side of the world-it really is an odd and small blogosphere sometimes) replies in part as follows: Brenda,The Chinese central bank has […]

Daily Reckoning provides this quote on the original week of the frantic search for legislation regarding the bailout: Take Rep. Brad Sherman (D-California), a bailout critic. During debate over the bailout bill that passed the House Friday, he said of the previous bill that had failed, “Many of us were told in private conversations that […]