Archive for October, 2008
Lessons From Japan
Interesting Article in the International Herald Tribune on Japanese monetary policy (both yesterday’s version and that the more longer-term variety stretching back to the serious deflation days). Here’s the most pertinent point: “According to Jerram, of Macquarie, one lesson of Japan’s experience with such indirect measures is that they work only if bankers are confident ...Read more.
Naomi Klein on US Recapitalization
I don’t agree with all of this: Naomi seems to forget that there are no longer any Wall Street firms of the sort that could wreak so much havoc with the assets they conjured up and simply expect someone else to endure the liability. But she’s always provocative, and her politics are spot on. From ...Read more.
Demand from New Admin: Claw This Back!
From Reuters: U.S. banks owe billions in pay, pensions to executives: report Fri Oct 31, 2008 6:36am EST (Reuters) – Troubled financial giants getting cash infusions from the U.S. Federal Reserve owe their executives more than $40 billion for past year’s pay and pensions as of the end of 2007, the Wall Street Journal said ...Read more.
This Isn't Even Funny Anymore
From today’s Financial Times: Thanks to Onet? A Polish website, for the link Wall Street ‘made rod for own back’ By Francesco Guerrera, Nicole Bullock and Julie MacIntosh in New York Published: October 30 2008 23:34 | Last updated: October 30 2008 23:34 Wall Street unwittingly created one of the catalysts for the collapse of ...Read more.
Barney Frank's JP Morgan Chase Connection
From Bob Feldman: Since 1989, the corporation whose Political Action Committee [PAC] or executives have been the top source of campaign contributions for the House Financial Services Committee Chairman, Barney Frank, has been JP Morgan Chase & Company. A Democratic Congressional representative from Massachusetts, Frank has accepted over $70,000 in campaign contributions from JP Morgan ...Read more.
Another Taxpayer Bailout Swindle
William Greider explains in The Nation what happens when we let the foxes guard the henhouse. The swindle of American taxpayers is proceeding more or less in broad daylight, as the unwitting voters are preoccupied with the national election. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson agreed to invest $125 billion in the nine largest banks, including $10 ...Read more.
U.S. Consumers Shop, Drop
The most recent Economic Snapshot from the Economic Policy Institute: American consumers shopped but have now droppedBad signs for tomorrow’s GDP report by L. Josh Bivens | October 29, 2008 For two years, consumer spending has managed to grow even in the face of trillions of dollars of evaporating housing wealth. As consumption spending is ...Read more.
Banks Spend Cash On Dividends, Not Loans
Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) and others are raising alarm bells at reports that banks are spending more than half of their bailout money on paying dividends to shareholders, rather than lending money to borrowers. According to today’s Washington Post The Treasury plans to invest up to $250 billion in a wide swath of U.S. banks ...Read more.
Humble Pie Chart
This is from a fantastic and hilarious site, Bubblewrapped, that we just discovered. It bills itself as offering “Financial tools, objective analysis and mixed metaphors to help you stay afloat in the crash.” Besides Greenspan, this “humble pie chart” mostly skewers journalists from the British business press, including, alas, Anatole Kaletsky (sorry, Larry…). Alan Greenspan ...Read more.
Singing for Our Salvation
This posting is from D&S collective member and frequent blogger Larry Peterson. To see more of his posts, click here. One of the reasons Mozart’s Requiem is the sublime work it is is that the end of the “Kyrie” (or, “Lord Have Mercy”) expresses such a powerful entreaty that it seems that a superhuman mercy ...Read more.
