Um.  Who knew?

I can’t help but think that Romney’s newly invigorated crony-capital (e.g., Solyndra) schtick is very much a double-edged sword for him.  I mean, isn’t he the candidate who, notwithstanding his claimed concern about the federal deficit, refuses to support the proposed elimination of the federal government’s subsidies to the oil and gas industry, and who […]

A key but seriously underemphasized factor in the near-collapse of the financial system and economy in 2008 was the role that the two largest securities-ratings firms, Moody’s and Standard and Poors, played: The two agencies routinely and deliberately overrated the value of mortgage-backed securities.  So I was momentarily (and naively) stunned to read this morning […]

by Linda Beale What’s Romney Got to Hide? It’s past time for financial and tax transparency As everybody who has followed anything about this election cycle knows, Mitt Romney–likely the wealthiest man to run for president, the only bankster/private equity fund founder (sole shareholder, CEO and manager) to run for president, and probably the only […]

The Washington Post carried a story on a Senate hearing on money laundering, one example being HSBC. The criticism was aimed at the OCC regulators who failed to pursue the issue.  Also notice the fuss is over a foreign bank. The U.S. affiliate of global banking giant HSBC was for years a haven for foreign […]

The Incidental Economist addresses election snippets that keep on going, just like in the movies.  Read the whole thing: Let’s try to stick to the real world when we talk about Medicaid, by Aaron Carroll: (Note: Paul Krugman cites here. Tyler Cowen responds here. I respond to Cowen’s response here.) Tyler Cowen had a piece […]

Rules requiring firms to restrict employment to their country of origin would be hideously inefficient if applied on a global basis, and they would be every bit as devastating to American employees of foreign firms as offshoring by American firms is to workers who lose their jobs here. (One might also ask where the borders […]

In response to this graphic in my reprised post from yesterday: Commenter rjs points us to this depressing Economist post — the government data source for this graphic has gone dark, part of the Obama administration’s cost-cutting measures. The real irony I discover, though, is to find right-wingers at The Heritage Foundation screaming about the […]

Mark Thoma notes the discrepancy between pretty much standard economics and what the popular discussion considers ‘economics’ : Not All Economists are to Blame, But Some Are  A defense of some, but not all economists: Why Some Economists Failed  I assert that some economists got things mostly right about the recession and what was needed to […]

by Tom aka Rusty Rustbelt Health Care Thoughts: Employer Responses  The Urban Institute and the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation published a paper (October 2011) about the potential responses of employers and employees. The paper tends to take an optimistic view on the responses of employers, although warning of possible short term thinking by some employers.  Now the […]