by Ken Houghton It was five degrees (C) warmer here this morning than the previous two days of taking the Eldest Daughter to her school bus. Presumably, this is balanced out in part by record-low temperatures in Hell, as the WSJ editorial page (well, Thomas Frank, but still…) summarizes the McCain Position: Last week, Republican […]
by Ken Houghton It’s not been a Good Weekend for me to read Berkeley-based Economists. (Though DeLong is on fire, in a good way, and has been since that initial post.) Via Mark Thoma, this from Barry Eichengreen: In the United States, there were two key decisions. The first, in the 1970’s, deregulated commissions paid […]
At a high level, Floyd Norris explains it all to you. UDATED, AND PULLED TO THE FORE: For the more detailed view (h/t Barry R.), the soon to be late, not very lamented, New York Sun presents the details: The SEC allowed five firms — the three that have collapsed plus Goldman Sachs and Morgan […]
If Barclay’s had bought Lehman over last weekend, would the Fed still have (needed to) intervened in the case of AIG? Discuss amongst yourselves.
Let us assume: That there is an equity premium ([PDF] UPDATE: Link modified to Brad De Long posting in which the PDF is embedded. Hat tip: Don Lloyd in comments.) That the equity premium can be derived from a linear relationship (y = ax(1) + bx(2) + ….) of the most significant variables. That equity […]
FIRE reports: “The securities industry is an economic powerhouse that continues to strengthen the U.S. economy,” said Securities Industry Association President Marc Lackritz. “SIA data shows that last year alone, we raised a record $3.2 trillion of capital for American business and nearly $14 trillion over the past five, underscoring our substantial contribution to overall […]
OCC press release WASHINGTON Feb. 14, 2008 — Comptroller of the Currency John C. Dugan issued the following statement today, responding to comments from New York Governor Eliot Spitzer:Almost everyone who has paid attention to the subprime lending crisis has concluded that OCC-regulated national banks were not the problem. Instead, the worst abuses came from […]
The Union of Concerned Scientists has just published a paper on science and governmental regulatory bodies and policy advisory panels. The United States has enjoyed prosperity and health in large part because of its strong and sustained commitment to independent science. As the nation facesnew challenges at home and growing competitiveness abroad, the need for […]
The GAO reports on the inability to measure small amounts of toxins in the Great Lakes that can cause harm. The same is true, as described in other posts, for unborns and babies. Is this a worthy function of government to oversee, water and babies being crucial also to us? How would a free market […]
The Albuquerque Tribune editorializes: In oil drilling, the question is always who suffers and who benefits – not in the abstract but in the details of daily lives. Sure, the American economy needs more American oil. But mining and property laws are often ruinous to ranchers, farmers and homeowners who are beset by drillers, their […]