RT @CameronAbadi Jack Goldsmith explains why Obama's counterterrorism speech doesn't deserve its hype http://t.co/PS8EVhlYKs
32 minutes ago
United States Channel: Latest Posts
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Finance & Markets
A Couple of Gems
`One blog participant brought a post by George Monbiot to my attention. I frequently comment that the financial regime initiated after WWII omitted key ideas that Keynes proposed–in particular, a new currency for international trade and controls on the behaviour of surplus nations as well as those running deficits. Monbiot provides the historic detail of these proposals and their defeat. It is well worth a read. -
Finance & Markets
Is Financial History Bunk?
Henry Ford said it first and best, “History is more or less bunk”. Is financial history any different? I ask myself that question a lot lately, almost every time I read something where the analysis compares the current “recession” to the average of something in a prior recessionary period.
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The Wilder View
The Fed’s message: We’re not the Bank of Japan
The Fed is increasingly discussing its monetary policy goals, and it’s about time. But I have noticed that the Fed is being very careful not to use the term quantitative easing (QE) when describing its current policy measures. If not read carefully, one might assume that the Fed is not engaging in a policy of quantitative easing, when in fact, it is.
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Finance & Markets
Why Economists Missed the Crises
`Why did Economists, as a group, miss the warning signs of housing, credit and market crisis? -
Finance & Markets
Another take on the treasuries bubble
`The consensus is coming down on the bearish side for U.S. government bonds in 2009. There is ample reason to believe that Treasuries will be an asset class to avoid this year. -
Finance & Markets
Bonds in 2009: A Tough Call
The second half of 2008 will be remembered as the era in which justifiably panicked investors fled the global equity markets and flooded into the bond markets, particularly the U.S. Treasury market. As I write this, the migration largely continues.
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Finance & Markets
2008 Review – Look back in Horror!
Shell-shocked investors are coming to terms with the financial carnage of 2008 that saw their portfolios decline substantially in value. The value of investments fell to such depths that investors needed specialised diving equipment just to find what anything was worth.
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United States
Fed’s “White Horse” Bailout of GMAC Enables Consumer Credit Habit & Stabilizes GM
The U.S. Treasury’s decision to inject $6bn worth of capital into GMAC allows the auto financer to broaden its distribution lending base to customers with minimum credit scores of 621 versus its previous standard of 700. This sounds counter-intuitive as cheap and easy credit is what precipitated today’s financial crisis. Then again, desperate times call for desparate measures.
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Finance & Markets
Fed Watch: Starting on an Ugly Note
`Will the economic recovery package will be too “fleeting”: -
The Wilder View
Obama’s not so efficient stimulus plan
The $740 billion -$1 trillion fiscal stimulus plan is an all-but done deal. Alongside a serious focus on the creation of jobs – 3 million to be exact – and jobless aid, including unemployment benefits for part-time workers and added health insurance coverage, the plan highlights investment in domestic infrastructure. Obama calls it the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan, and on it lies hope for a U.S. recovery.
