Roosevelt Institute Senior Fellow Marshall Auerback and Braintruster at the New Deal 2.0 explores the possibility, and what it means if deficit hysteria continues unchecked: A recent poll by Douglas Schoen and Patrick Caddell suggests that swing voters in the US, who are key to the fate of the Democratic Party, care most about three […]
Crooks and Liars has us look at employers shifting the cost of health insurance to workers. In MA this shift will happen with public employees such as teachers probably soon as well. Health care costs soar for insured workers presents another chart to gain a perspective when someone says health insurance premiums will rise with […]
One of the many causes of the financial crisis was excessive reliance on excessively generous ratings of novel financial instruments. There are proposals to change the incentives faced by the bond rating agencies to prevent them from being so lax. I don’t think that any such reform is likely to be successful. I think it […]
by cactus Last week I wrote a post about some nonsense Glen Beck was peddling, with said nonsense originating with Thomas Woods. Woods claimed a smorgasbord of things, the dollar meal version being: 1. lefties talk up how the New Deal (big gubmint, tax hikes) saved the economy from the Great Depression but it didn’t […]
Robert Waldmann Kevin Drum tries to list all proposed explanations for the financial crisis. I see if I can add others after the jump. The Drum roll 1. Housing bubble (i.e., the pure mania aspect of the thing). 2. Massive increase in leverage throughout the financial system. 3. Global savings glut/persistent current account deficits. 4. […]
A note of comparison might come in handy when thinking in big numbers. The top 25 hedge fund managers made a record $25.3 billion dollars in 2009. And despite all those dramatic congressional hearings, average compensation of Wall Street bankers rose by 27 percent in 2009. Meanwhile, banks are hiding their debt with the same […]
Maybe more about this at some point in the future. Consider it a RawShock Test, and feel free to describe what you see in comments.
Lifted from an e-mail by Stormy Financial Times notes that China’s champions-elect are going abroad, in oil, in mining and in car manufacturing, supported in almost all cases by state-owned banks. But the banks themselves are largely staying put. Why? Global chinese capital See charts for China Unfair China Trade Costs Local Jobs Couple of […]
A piece of geek: Williams syndrome, brain function, and an all out social way of thinking.
Robert Waldmann Goldman Sachs accused of (civil) Financial Arson I don’t want to bore readers so I’ll just mention, again, that this wouldn’t have been possible if cash settlement CDS were not allowed. In all other cases it is not legal to insure against a risk that one doesn’t bear. A simple law which says […]