Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.

More on speculation: Banks, Credit Default Swaps, and Greece’s Debt

by Linda Beale More on speculation: Banks, Credit Default Swaps, and Greece’s Debt (Part 2) Yesterday, I commented on Darrell Duffie’s defense of speculation in the Wall Street Journal, here. I noted that the idea that speculation is a positive because it absorbs risk others don’t want and helps reveal the “true price” by providing […]

More Detail on Working the Refs

So there are several comments to my previous post. Ignoring the a good one from Dr. DeLong, several people are taking umbrage at my unsubtle suggestion that the effect on employment being suggested is, to be polite about it, rather creative. kharris begins, “So let me see if I have this right. If anybody tries […]

Politics vs. the Economy: Turkey edition

Turkey’s on my mind. Let me sum up my point – that the outlook for the Turkish economy hangs very much in the balance – from the following news excerpts. From the Hürriyet Daily News and Economic Review on February 8 : the Legislation for the [fiscal] rule, which will limit the size of the […]

Bankers Bonuses and Bank Reforms: why they are needed, what they might include, and are you angry yet?

by Linda Beale Bankers Bonuses and Bank Reforms: why they are needed, what they might include, and are you angry yet? A big title for a tiny little sketch of a post, I know. Not much time today folks, but if you can read only one blog posting, read the one at Naked Capitalism at […]

Memories of the Chilean Earthquake (1960)

by cactus Yeah, I Felt the Big One: Memories of the Chilean Earthquake My father had something of a Forrest Gump college experience, being “there” at a couple of unfortunate historical events. One example – in 1960, he was studying Physics at the institute in Bariloche, a town in the Andes in Argentina. That’s about […]

When Economic Stress Becomes Terrorism

The Bell has an op-ed worth reading. When Economic Stress Becomes Terrorism Poverty, Rather Than Anti-Anything Ideology, Is the Common Thread Joseph Stack is not a terrorist in the sense that we apply this word to operatives for al-Qaida and other groups and he certainly is not a Tea Party terrorist. The same is true […]

Corrective Note

A few years ago—probably four, though maybe more—I was doing some research at SIBL when the National Sport of Canada came on the television screens. It wasn’t that I stopped to watch; that loyalty had been previously established. It was that everyone else who was walking between the floors stopped and watched for at least […]

Catch-Up Links

I have been a Bad Blogger this week. (As opposed to my usual practice, which seems to be described as Blogging Badly.) While I intend to continue the New Tradition (think of me as Waylon, without the speed), following are Snow Day Links: D-Squared was on fire on Wednesday: both Bank Lending Channel and The […]