Leninism in the USAFirst let me define Leninism. To me the key feature of Leninism is that Lenin declared the party to be the highest good. Thus acts were to be judged as pro-party or anti-party. In fact the very same acts were good or bad depending on whether they were done by the party […]
No, the US Treasury’s time is not running out. Where’s Brad Setser when you need him – and the media definitely needed him in reference to the December TIC report. Okay, okay, we know: China dropped its share of Treasury holdings in December by $US 34.2 bn. China now holds just 20.9% of the total […]
NBER paper of the day: We analyze asset-backed commercial paper conduits which played a central role in the early phase of the financial crisis of 2007-09. We document that commercial banks set up conduits to securitize assets while insuring the newly securitized assets using credit guarantees. The credit guarantees were structured to reduce bank capital […]
by Bruce Webb I’ll let the other Bears comment on this one. I just thought the graphic useful. As always click to enlarge. For table plus footnotes click the link.Major Foreign Holders of U.S. Treasuries
January industrial production rose 0.9%, with the gains with gains across almost all components. Industrial production has now risen for seven months and is 5.5% above its bottom. This implies that so far industrial production has been rising at a 9.4% annual rate. Compared to previous industrial production recoveries this appears to be about a […]
by Brenda Rossercrossposted with Econospeak The currency quarrel with China is a dangerous distraction In an article in the Washington Post last November entitled ‘The currency quarrel’ [1] there were a number of assertions made about the economic relationship between the US and China that are questionable, to say the least. The opening sentence begins […]
by Daniel J. Becker Back in June of ’08 I asked regarding Jason Furman’s appointment by Obama: Is this the concession the Clinton/Blue Dog group was looking for? The DLC still keeps control of the money issues? I asked because of his connection to the Hamilton Project at the Brookings Institute: Hamilton Project, a small […]
“The argument that the two parties should represent opposed ideals and policies, one, perhaps, of the Right and the other of the Left, is a foolish idea acceptable only to doctrinaire and academic thinkers. Instead, the two parties should be almost identical, so that the American people can throw the rascals out at any election […]
by Bruce Webb (UPDATE: Digby readers, I want to make it clear that I am not NewDealDemocrat, I just got permission to cross-post this important compilation from NDD.) Blog friend NewDealDemocrat has a recommended diary up on dKos called Mr. President, No Real Democrat is agnostic about Social Security. NewDeal gave me an advance look […]