Category: economics
Gleaning The Wrong Lesson From Minsky
May 3rd, 2008In his May 2nd, 2008 New York Times article "Determining Who gets to Ride the LifeBoat", Floyd Norris discusses this issue of mortgage "bailouts" and economic downward spirals. Many have acknowledged that the question of "who is worth helping" is a tho… more »
Where Is All This Commodities Inflation Coming From?
April 26th, 2008Now that commodities inflation is undeniable -- it is hard to ignore pan-global food riots -- there is naturally a great deal of bickering over the cause.
This "ag-flation" surely must agitate many on Planet Wall Street, since they had decided by the… more »
Anti-Fed Poster
April 26th, 2008Here is a video of me explaining my home-made anti-Fed poster at the April 15, 2008 "Grannie Warriors" Ron Paul rally in DC.
The poster puts the anti-Fed movement in historical context: in fact, the United States had two central banks before the Fed:… more »
How Cell Phones Are Like Health Care Plans
June 19th, 2007No, this isn't a riddle or a joke, though it seems you could hardly pick two more dissimilar aspects of the consumer economy. The short answer, put colloquially, is that "both suck, because both are far too expensive and rising in price rapidly".
But… more »
USPS Issues Stamps Worth More Than US Currency
May 13th, 2007Monday the US Postal Service will release it's "forever stamps" -- stamps that will always buy the same amount of postal services, no matter what the current cost is, in dollars/cents. This change is of course coincident with raising the first-class pos… more »
Centrally-Regulated Banking Has Failed
May 12th, 2007In the latest "Credit Bubble Bulletin," from Doug Noland, a peerless job is done (as always) diagnosing the state, trend, mechanics, and consequences of the global credit bubble. But this time, Noland delves more into the prescriptive: how to fix the me… more »
The Federal Reserve System Is Even More Screwed Up Than You Thought
April 3rd, 2007A recent Mish post discussing the question of whether the Fed "pumps" money into the economy contains some provocative wisdom on interest rate-setting from Minyanville "professor" Reamer:
There is another operational element here that very few… more »
Musings On The Media's Bullish Bias
March 7th, 2007The following is adapted from a letter sent to Charles Hugh Smith's blog (it was published).
I have become fascinated (and infuriated) with this phenomenon lately. I think there are a number of causes.
One is self-interested and financial: the pres… more »
The Walter Reed Scandal: Yes, Wars Do Cost Something
March 4th, 2007So a new scandal has cropped up regarding the treatment of wounded, recently-returned Iraq vets at Walter Reed hospital in DC. Bush has expressed his shock and approbation; Army Secretary Francis Harvey has resigned (read: he was ousted).
Don't be… more »
Cramer on Subprime
February 18th, 2007Neal forwarded me some brief commentary by Jim Cramer regarding the subprime lending situation. Shockingly, he displays some lucidity I didn't realize he was capable of -- but he then ruins it by translating it, as usual, into a call for a stock market… more »
Rose-Colored Glasses
February 14th, 2007Apparently not much can get this stock market (or Ben Bernanke) down. Here are all the top headlines just gleaned from Yahoo! Finance, straight-up:
"Dow, Nasdaq Jump In Morning Trading"
"Chrysler to Eliminate 13,000 jobs"
"Bernanke Still Optimist… more »
Casey Serin vs "The Homeless Dude": A Comedy of Justice
February 9th, 2007You simply must read this blog thread, in which Casey Serin of "IAmFacingForeclosure.Com" fame complains about a homeless guy squatting in one of his ill-gotten, under-foreclosure properties. The posters to the thread leave no stone unturned in explorin… more »
Simmons: Peak Oil is Now
February 5th, 2007After looking at Saudi production, I placed the global oil peak at approximately spring of last year. Why are prices lower then? Easy: short-term effects -- hedge fund trading and favorable weather.
Matthew Simmons, chairman of Simmons & Co. I… more »
Subprime Credit Crunch Could Trigger Collapse
February 2nd, 2007Some of you might have seen my new informational site, the Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter. But for those who haven't, I started this site to coherently track a story that is otherwise only quietly developing on a smattering of disparate finance blogs a… more »
Two News Bombshells You Might Have Missed Amidst the State-Of-The-Union Hubbubb
January 24th, 2007The items are:
Last week China successfully tested new capability for shooting down satellites in orbit by bringing down an old weather satellite of theirs. This was a complete surprise, and the entire world of international diplomacy was shock… more »
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