Archive for October, 2009
CEOs of the World … UNITE!
A little ideological confusion at the Wall Street Journal’s front page article on Ken Lewis having to forgo $2.5 million in compensation. [Don’t cry for him, unemployed America: he’ll somehow manage to get by on his $69.3 million payout when he retires in a few months). According to the Journal: The move angered many on ...Read more.
Several Items on Banking Regulation
Several interesting items about financial (re-)regulation, and the unlikelihood of anything approaching adequate regulation getting through Congress, have come across our desk. First, the business section of Friday’s New York Times had a pretty good piece by Joe Nocera on financial regulation, Have Banks No Shame? He partially skewers Barney Frank for watering down the ...Read more.
Elinor Ostrom breaks the Nobel mold
From Kevin Gallagher, of Tufts’ Global Development and the Environment Institute, in the Guardian. For thoughts on this year’s econ Nobel from Larry Peterson of the D&S collective, click here. Elinor Ostrom breaks the Nobel mould The economics profession needs to be shaken up. Ostrom’s Nobel prize should encourage us to take a fresh approach ...Read more.
Sit-In for Single Payer THURS OCT 15th
A coalition called the Mobilization for Health Care for All will be holding sit-ins THURSDAY, OCT 15th at insurance company offices across the country tomorrow (as part of an ongoing campaign) to press for a single-payer health care system—not this ridiculous give-away to the insurance companies that Congress is contemplating. I signed up to participate—you ...Read more.
A second Great Depression is still possible
From occasional D&S author Thomas Palley, in the Financial Times’ Economists’ Forum. October 11, 2009 4:37pmby FT By Thomas Palley Over the past year the global economy has experienced a massive contraction, the deepest since the Great Depression of the 1930s. But this spring, economists started talking of “green shoots” of recovery and that optimistic ...Read more.
A Note on the Nobel Awards
The Nobel Prize for economics was awarded today to a pair of American professors, Elinor Ostrom and Oliver Williamson. Besides being the first economics Nobel to be awarded to a woman, the choice was notewothy on several other accounts. Both laureates were not considered frontrunners, at least by the London bookies who actually take bets ...Read more.
Calderon Busts Mexican Electrical Workers Union
From Laura Carlsen on the Americas Program blog: Calderon Government Sends in Police to Take Over Electrical Company and Bust Union … What’s been dubbed the “Sabadazo” or Saturday Offensive took place when the union and the government were in the middle of talks, and awaiting a promised response from the Calderon administration on Monday. ...Read more.
Two Items on Foreclosures
The New York Times business section has an interesting article about the limited success of the “Making Home Affordable Program,” which was intended to encourage (but not require!) banks to work with homeowners on facing foreclosure to lower their monthly payments. (The copy of the Times that arrived on my doorstep gave this headline to ...Read more.
Memo to Investigators: Dig Deep (Greider)
From The Nation, posted to their website yesterday. For more on the Pecora hearings, check out this NYT op-ed from way back in January. Memo to Investigators: Dig Deep By William Greider | October 8, 2009 When the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission opened for business on September 17, it was a nonevent for the media. ...Read more.
The IMF and the World Bank in Istanbul
From Monday’s Guardian. Keep your eye out for an article in our Nov/Dec issue, Putting the “Global” in the Global Economic Crisis, by economist and D&S collective member Smriti Rao. Yes, the global financial sector has upped its game—but not nearly enough The mood at the meeting of the IMF and World Bank in Istanbul ...Read more.
