Raines is finally out at Fannie Mae. The company seems to be in increasing difficulties, with recent investigations by regulatory agencies finding that Fannie Mae has hidden about $9 billion in losses over the past few years, basically by using the same accounting trick that WorldCom used a few years ago. It’s unclear at this […]
I’m working on a big Social Security post, but in the meantime, can we fire Don Rumsfeld yet? CNN personnel who have visited the base [where at least 19 troops, as well as others, were killed] said the dining area is a tent-like facility with no hardened protection — and that soldiers had specifically raised […]
David Brooks’ latest New York Times oped makes no sense to Juan Cole: David Brooks has a glib op-ed today in the New York Times in which he celebrates a moment of hope in the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. He suggests that all the factors analysts have been complaining about– the hegemony of the Likud in Israel, […]
In President Bush’s surprise news conference, he was testy about fielding questions as to what his Social Security deform proposals would look like. But he did explain WHY we needed to have Social Security deform: There’s more we must do to keep this economy flexible, innovative and competitive in the world. In a time of […]
Jose Pinera’s Retiring in Chile states: Since the system started on May 1, 1981, the average real return on the personal accounts has been 10 percent a year. The Performance of the Funded Pension Systems in Latin America by Juan Yermo, which can found on this page discusses the privatized retirement plans of various Latin […]
…but now it’s official. Newsweek: Dec. 18 – Just two weeks after the September 11 attacks, a secret memo to White House counsel Alberto Gonzales’ office concluded that President Bush had the power to deploy military force “preemptively” against any terrorist groups or countries that supported them—regardless of whether they had any connection to the […]
OK, with Stephen Moore v. Robert Reich, I was not expecting much from Wednesay’s show , but this is beneath pathetic: MATTHEWS: Two top economic minds are with me here, Stephen Moore, president of the Club For Growth, a conservative political action committee, and Robert Reich, labor secretary in the Clinton administration and now professor […]
When I read opinion pieces such as this one: HE LOST US BEFORE HE’D FINISHED A SENTENCE: Buying Into Failure (PAUL KRUGMAN, December 17, 2004, NY Times) “As the Bush administration tries to persuade America to convert Social Security into a giant 401(k)…” Why wouldn’t anyone who has a 401k–which is well over 40 million […]
I agree with most of this piece from Political Animal as it is true that the Reagan deficits were reversed mainly be tax rate increases. But one of his sentences is only partially true: But even with those seven tax increases and several years of strong growth, he still didn’t get rid of his deficit. […]
Many economists think that a further significant depreciation of the US dollar is likely in the not-too-distant future. Apparently a lot of Europeans disagree. Yesterday’s BEA data on the US’s balance of payments in the third quarter of 2004 highlights the fact that Europeans have continued to buy US dollar assets in amazingly large quantities. […]