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

AIG, Logic, Insanity, and Tim "I Saw Nothing" Geithner

Go read: If you’re only reading one post, see FT Alphaville, which incorporates and expands upon… Tom Adams and Yves Smith’s posting at Naked Capitalism discussing the document and the reality of the situtation. the document itself is available from either The Long Room or the Huffington Post. If the FRB of NY really believed […]

Japan rescinds war on deflation

by Rebecca Wilder At least that is the way I read today’s monetary policy release. According to the statement released today: “The Bank of Japan will encourage the uncollateralized overnight call rate to remain at around 0.1 percent.” However, the statement curiously omits the following from item 6. of the previous release: The Policy Board […]

Can Nobody Play this Game Correctly?

CBO: At 9.2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), that deficit would be slightly smaller than the shortfall of 9.9 percent of GDP ($1.4 trillion) posted in 2009. [emphasis mine] A 7.1% decline in real GDP terms isn’t just “slightly smaller”; it’s a real improvement that is greater than any (mythical or not) “spending freeze” […]

$300 billion F-35 fighter jet

by ilsm The US deficit, and its related total debt, are awesome worries. Military outlays need to be reviewed, by qualified analysts who have not bought into the climate of continuing to clothe the emperor in nothing. Those outlays that are not “worth the expenditure of scarce taxpayer resources” in the military program need to […]

The One Sentence Everyone Needs to Read and Understand

Bruce Bartlett: The Fed has talked openly about new procedures to soak up the bank reserves it has created even as those reserves remain largely idle and unlent. You don’t get inflation if there is no money multiplier in play. So long as the banks are just holding the cash, worries about monetary policy leading […]