When you start advocating Federally backed “moon shots” as a way to compensate for the shortcomings of American management, you know you are in deep doo doo. Tom Friedman has a characteristically breathless article at at the New York Times arguing America better get off its duff because China is very serious about electric cars: […]
Read more...The spin-meisters continue to package things that ought to incite outrage in anodyne wrappers in the hope no one will look inside. “The new normal” and “structural unemployment” join the universe inhabited by such gems as “extraordinary rendition” and “pre-emptive strike”. “New normal” is particularly insidious, since it implies that we must accept current conditions, […]
Read more...A Sunday change of pace at the suggestion of reader Cullpepper. Enjoy!
Read more...→ Washington’s Blog I previously pointed out: Some experts have also said that the use of Corexit has prolonged by decades the presence of toxic crude oil, because the dispersant sinks the oil beneath the ocean surface, where it cannot be quickly broken down by sun, waves and microbes. And the head of Lawrence Berkeley […]
Read more...Why lions roar and wildcats miaow BBC (hat tip reader John M) CIA used ‘illegal, inaccurate code to target kill drones‘ The Register (hat tip reader John M) Liberal blogger directly confronts David Axelrod, accuses White House of “hippie punching” Washington Post (hat tip reader John D) Credit Union Fix May Be $9.2 Billion, Regulator […]
Read more...Tom Adams pointed out a story on ABC about the sleazy strong arming tactics used by a debt collection agency engaged by Bank of America debt collection agency called ACT Technologies. I imagine we are going to hear more and more about this sort of thing, not simply because high unemployment rates mean more people […]
Read more...Today, quite a few commentators fell in with the take of the writeup by Real Time Economics on a speech by Paul Volcker given a conference on macroprudential regulation hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. Its lead-in: Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker scrapped a prepared speech he had planned to deliver at […]
Read more...Per the Sacremento Bee, hat tip Foghorn Leghorn and Brian: California officials today demanded that Ally Financial Inc. stop foreclosing on homes in the state, citing reports indicating the big mortgage lender is violating the law. The cease-and-desist letter, issued by Attorney General Jerry Brown, came as officials in several other states began investigating Ally’s […]
Read more...It isn’t surprising that given the potential consequences (revelation of widespread fraud, improper foreclosures, and big time difficulties straightening out the mess revealed), GMAC and other servicers have taken the “nothing to see here, drive on by” approach to reports that they forged affidavits and fabricated documents in order to be able to show courts […]
Read more...→ Washington’s Blog (Videos embedded at Washington’s Blog. I would be grateful if someone could tell me how to embed videos here at NakedCapitalism. Even when I copy and past the html, the videos won’t show) Oil-industry expert Bob Cavnar says that the Macondo well is dead. True, there may still be some bubbles leaking: […]
Read more...Workers unearth huge fossil cache in California BBC (hat tip reader John M) Zeroing in on Cancer American Scientist (hat tip reader Roger Bigod). Be sure to read the last four paragraphs. FDA will Ban Food Makers from Telling the Truth about Non-GMO Foods Natural News (hat tip reader furzy mouse) Patient confidentiality? Not in […]
Read more...Ah, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive, said the bard. And the web emanating from the GMAC affidavit improprieties extend much further than most may realize. Although GMAC continues to maintain that having its “robot signor” officers like Jeffrey Stephan provide affidavits on matters they know nothing about is […]
Read more...The normally sound Gillian Tett of the Financial Times endorses an idea that is both dangerous and unnecessary, namely, government backstopping of the system of short-term collateralized lending called repo, for “sale with agreement to repurchase.” The problem with her analysis is that her proposal treats symptoms rather than the underlying ailment. It would amount […]
Read more...Tom Adams and I saw an advance screening of the Charles Ferguson film Inside Job, a documentary on the financial crisis, due for theatrical release in New York on October 8. Given how well each of us knows the subject matter, we’re not easily swayed, but I can speak for both of us in giving […]
Read more...Three women filed a sex discrimination suit against Goldman seeking class action status. It has gotten some attention in the press and on the Web for not the best reasons, namely, the complaint recounts in some detail how one of the plaintiffs, Christina Chen-Oster a convertible bonds sales rep, had had a colleague force himself […]
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