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 Steam Fangs Palin (Tom Bozzo) On 60 Minutes, John McCain helped resolve a couple of issues that occupied the comments last week. Q1. Did McCain support Gramm-Leach-Bliley? A: Yes, and he still does! PELLEY: In 1999, you were one of the Senators who helped pass deregulation of Wall Street. Do you regret that now? […]
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 […]
In partial response to Cactus’s post, Megan McArdle offers the “look at those low air fares” defense of airline deregulation, going so far as to suggest: I think it’s telling that complaints about deregulation of the airlines come almost entirely from three groups of people: 1) People who have no idea what they are talking […]
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 […]