By Yeon-Koo Che, Professor of Economic Theory at Columbia University, and Rajiv Sethi, Professor of Economics, Barnard College, Columbia University, cross posted from VoxEU The role of naked credit default swaps in the global crisis is an ongoing source of controversy. This column seeks to add some formal analysis to the debate. Its model finds […]
Read more...Rare Roman lantern found in field near Sudbury BBC (hat tip reader John M) One Lump Or Two? James Howard Kunstler (hat tip reader Michael T) The Effects of Fiscal Stimulus: Evidence from the 2009 ‘Cash for Clunkers’ Program Atif R. Mian and Amir Sufi (hat tip Planet Money). The title is annoying, since implying […]
Read more...Is a stealth shift in policy afoot, to find the bottom in the housing market by getting banks to start clearing out their foreclosed and “ought to be foreclosed” exposures? On Tuesday, Fannie Mae announced that it was not longer giving servicers free rein, and was clamping down on multiple fronts, such as procedures and […]
Read more...Via Bloomberg: View the segment here.
Read more...As much as this blog was a persistent critic of the US version of the stress tests, I must hand it to the folks at the Treasury: they did an impressive job of dressing up and selling a garbage barge. The combination of consistent cheerleading, extend and pretend, and a few short squeezes did wonders […]
Read more...By Andrew Horowitz of The Disciplined Investor As discussed in a previous post, the September month has not been kind to investor’s. However, equities have seemingly found some confidence straight out of the gate, so far. The Unemployment numbers released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics will be the tell tale sign of continued strength […]
Read more...News is preliminary, no idea yet whether it is a production well or not, but all 13 crew members on the Mariner Energy rig are accounted for. The Journal’s story here (which presumably will be updated); Bloomberg’s here.
Read more...Deep-fried beer invented in Texas Telegraph (hat tip reader Martin W) Old star wallows in ‘steam bath‘ BBC (hat tip reader John M) Man Lost $1.4 Million Corot Painting After Boozing, Suit Says Bloomberg (hat tip reader Buzz Potamkin). There is a second story on this matter up, but this version is remarkably unclear (it […]
Read more...Chris Whalen has a particularly tough-minded post at Reuters in which he explains why QE does little for the real economy (similar to the conclusions reached by the Bank of Japan regarding its own QE) and why its benefits for banks fade over time. Key sections: When interest rates are low, savers move their preference […]
Read more...Lordie, if this isn’t disingenuous, I don’t know what is. From the Financial Times: US universities are producing too few engineers to meet industry demand, Indian outsourcing companies say, leaving such businesses little choice but to hire foreign skilled workers to fill jobs in America And why are there so few students studying computer science? […]
Read more...→ Washington’s Blog The government and BP claim that the combination of Corexit and crude oil is less toxic than crude oil by itself. Is that true? Well, scientists have found that when Corexit is applied to the actual crude oil from BP’s well, it releases 35 times more toxic chemicals into the water column […]
Read more...The “lax” is clearly a tad inflammatory, but tweaks in Basel III rules to allow dubious quality items like mortgage servicing rights as Tier I capital speak volumes. In addition, the various noises from policy makers makes clear that they aren’t willing to make banks raise capital level by much due to fears of the […]
Read more...Drunk baboons plague Cape Town’s exclusive suburbs Telegraph (hat tip reader Paul S) How Many Lone Nuts Does It Take To Make A Party Mix? Firedoglake. The title isn’t too hot, but the article makes a good point. Simpson to disabled vets: You cost too much Daily Kos (hat tip Brad DeLong) Obama’s Iraq Challenge […]
Read more...The English language needs a new word to describe the nature and degree of disconnectedness from reality represented by Dick Fuld. He occupies a weird funhouse realm in which he did no wrong, those mean people in DC and the evil shorts brought down a viable enterprise. Remember, this is the man who certified financial […]
Read more...A key paragraph in a post on a new paper by Jim Hamilton: We can summarize the implications of that forecast in terms of the following scenario. Suppose that the Federal Reserve were to sell off all its Treasury securities of less than one-year maturity, and use the proceeds to buy up all the longer […]
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