Two posts on European Banks and their view of what constitutes a “Safe Harbor.” His conclusion isn’t just The Pull Quote of the Year, it’s the Pull Quote That Explains the Year: Putting it all together yields a compelling story: European banks are shifting their cash assets out of European banks and putting much of […]

Busy day on several fronts, but these should be discussed and I’ve already posted one rant this week, so a riff on the second piece would be overkill. Sort of an Open Thread, with four topics. Tyler Cowen argues that, instead of giving out stimulus monies, the government should just hire people directly. No, really: […]

It’s rare to see theft described so directly: Proposals made in July by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision should be redrafted to allow banks to use so-called contingent capital to meet the obligations, the European Banking Federation said in a letter seen by Bloomberg News. They should also be changed so lenders that can’t […]

by Mike Kimel This post is the third in a series that looks at the relationship between real economic growth and the top individual marginal tax rate. The first looked at the period from 1901 to 1928, the second from 1929 to 1940. This one will look at the period from 1940 to 1950. Before […]

Let the Waves of Pity Begin: More than 80 percent said they don’t believe that their compensation is mainly predicated on performance. Instead, [Capstone managing partner Rik] Kopelan said, young investment bankers worry that it’s “based on the profitability of the firm, based on how powerful the group heads were, based on capricious things.” [emphases […]

It’s not just that you make a mistake; it’s that you cling desperately to that mistake and let it define you. Katrina revealed George W. Bush’s basic incompetence in a way that 9/11, Afghanistan, and Iraq had not. So he was weak going into the 2006 midterms. There were going to be losses. No one […]

[Expletive Deleted]. It will be interesting to see whether the Libya of Brad DeLong and Juan Cole’s beliefs produces a respectable opposition leader—one of the surer signs of rule by the people—before Canada does.* UPDATE: Via Amy Wilkins Twitter feed, Layton’s final words. Can anyone imagine the 2011 Obama** being able to say this: You […]

Refinance rates (list) for 15-year Fixed Rate Mortgage in my area: Bank of America 3.625% JPMorganChase 4.125% And that’s if everything is right.

Fitch won’t downgrade the U.S., but they have downgraded Chirstiedom, officially because he didn’t pillage the state’s severely-underfunded Pension Funds enough. Of course, those Pension Funds wouldn’t be so underfunded if they had been funded instead of f*ck*d by the Whitman Administration’s Coke-Induced Budgeting Practices. (The “miracle of compound interest” includes that it doesn’t compound […]

by Mike Kimel Most economists believe that unemployment benefits increase the unemployment rate. The idea is that even having a relatively small income coming in (from unemployment) can encourage people to stay jobless just a little while longer. And no doubt there are people who play the unemployment compensation game fairly well. Now, consider severance […]