Dr. Black (you know the site) links to AIG Strike Three. And unlike the Citi debacle previously discussed (relatively) positively and rather negatively here, this one makes some form of sense. The difference comes down to the meaning of an accounting concept: ongoing concern. More below the break (yes, this might get wonkish. It’s me, […]
Robert Waldmann Brad DeLong has a question. He is impressed by Christine Romer’s latest speech but he doesn’t believe the huge estimate (on the order of 3) of the tax cut multiplier in Romer and Romer 2007 (warning pdf). He suspects that they left something out. I agree that the evidence for large multipliers (on […]
rdan RL says last night: Let me tell you who we conservatives are: We love people. [Applause] When we look out over the United States of America, when we are anywhere, when we see a group of people, such as this or anywhere, we see Americans. We see human beings. We don’t see groups. We […]
rdan Paul Kagan asks this question: You won’t find the names of many of these funds in the published lists of banks’ largest investors, because they’re hidden behind the names of the money management firms they retain to make the actual investment and trading decisions. If nationalization destroys the common stock (and possibly preferred shares) […]
Reader Donald sends us this note on Warren Buffet’s wisdom: I’ve just finished reading through Warren Buffet’s annual letter to Berkshire-Hathaway shareholders I’ve extracted some general interest stuff below: … “This debilitating spiral has spurred our government to take massive action. In poker terms, the Treasury and the Fed have gone “all in.” Economic medicine […]
cross posted from ataxingmatter Linda Beale Tax Exempt Hospitals–the American Hospital Association response to the IRS study Last week, I reported on the government study of tax exempt hospitals, which looked at community benefit and executive compensation, and asked whether hospitals merit tax exempt status, at this link. The conclusions on community benefit were not […]
by Bruce Webb The Treasury Department maintains a handy web application called Debt to the Penny. As the name suggests it will give you total Public Debt to the penny for specific dates in the past or for a range of dates. It is this total Public Debt figure that is generally cited in news […]
I’ve spent most of the past two weeks alternating between dizziness and sleep. Maybe the dizziness explains why I find myself in agreement with a WSJ editorial: In a better world, Citi would have long ago been put into bankruptcy. The FDIC could have taken over and disposed of the bank’s assets, while protecting insured […]
rdan We are all prone to folly at some point in our lives, for some things.
Robert Waldmann wrote earlier In defense of George Will’s claim “According to the University of Illinois’ Arctic Climate Research Center, global sea ice levels now equal those of 1979.” Post ombudsman Andy Alexander provided this link http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/global.sea.ice.area.pdf** to a *one page* document which includes the text “However, observed N. Hemisphere sea ice area is almost […]