Yes, Virginia, There are Poorhouses, and Scrooge Would be Proud of Them
Societies have a funny way of walling off undesirables.
Read more...Yearly Archives: 2012
Greeks Get Time but Not Money
Yves here. This post by Delusional Economics continues with his cataloguing of the slide of the Eurozone into an economic and political abyss. What is striking is the contrast between his matter of fact tone (which at this point is fully warranted, these self destructive actions have become depressingly routine) and the horror of what is happening, that millions of people are faced with desperation and are prepared to take desperate measures in retaliation.
Read more...Harry Shearer’s Grand Bargain Barn!
Bill Black will insist this needs to be rebranded as the Great Betrayal Barn….but I am sure you will enjoy it nevertheless! A must listen!
Read more...Shale Gas Will be the Next Bubble to Pop
By James Stafford, publisher of OilPrice. Cross posted from OilPrice.
To help us to look past the hype and take a critical look at whether shale really is the golden goose many believe it to be or just another over-hyped bubble that is about to pop, we were fortunate to speak with energy expert Arthur Berman.
In the interview Arthur talks about:
Read more...• Why shale gas will be the next bubble to pop
• Why Japan can’t afford to abandon nuclear power
• Why the United States shouldn’t turn its back on Canada’s tar sands
• Why renewables won’t make a meaningful impact for many years
• Why the shale boom will not have a big impact on foreign policy
• Why Romney and Obama know next to nothing about fossil fuel energy
Wow! Met Our Second Fundraising Target, On to the Third
Dear readers, if you are a weekday only reader and sensibly were off the grid yesterday, please visit our kickoff post where we tell you what we hope to accomplish with our fundraiser and how to contribute.
I really appreciate the speedy and generous responses. It has been distracting, in a good way, to see all the PayPal notifications, “Check is in the mail” messages (the kickoff post gives you the sordid details), and kind comments on Neil Barofsky’s endorsement.
Read more...Links 11/12/12
Another Lame Duck Session Horrorshow, the “First, Let’s Kill All The Regulators” Bill
No matter how bad things seem to be, there are always ways for them to become worse. While the campaign against Medicare and Social Security is being couched in the sort of faux inevitability that has become familiar via European austerity measures, other pernicious lame duck session measures are moving forward in the hope no one will notice.
Dave Dayen wrote up a remarkably ugly one last Friday.
Read more...Neil Barofsky: Why Naked Capitalism Matters
By Neil Barofsky, Adjunct Professor of Law and Senior Research Fellow at NYU Law School, former Special Inspector General of the Troubled Assets Relief Program, and author of Bailout: An Inside Account of How Washington Abandoned Main Street While Rescuing Wall Street
I first became acquainted with Naked Capitalism while I was still at Treasury as the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program.
Read more...On the Decline and (Maybe) Fall of Venture Capital
Roughly eight years ago, I had lunch with an ex-McKinsey colleague who had started a venture capital firm. His partners were raising a second fund. He was leaving. I wish I had taken notes, but his message was that the industry did not work.
Read more...Michael Olenick: Schadenfreude Alert – Banks Paying Extortionate Fees for Foreclosure Reviews
By Michael Olenick, a regular contributor on Naked Capitalism. You can follow him on Twitter at @michael_olenick
Every time it appears that the OCC foreclosure reviews have hit bottom they sink further into the morass.
Read more...Links 11/11/12
The Lady Doth Protest Too Much: CBO Director Asks for a Chat Regarding Our Post on Their Questionable Health Cost Increase Model
As regular readers may recall, last Monday, we put up a post titled “Fed Budgetary Experts Demolish CBO Health Cost Model, the Lynchpin of Budget Hysteria.” We received a voicemail and a related e-mail Wednesday morning. This is the text of the e-mail:
Read more...Relaunching the NC 2012 Fundraiser!
Regular readers may recall we suspended our 2012 fundraiser, which started right before Hurricane Sandy. We want to express our deep appreciation to those of you who have donated thus far.
Many of the things we talked about when we launched our first fundraiser last year are still true: the elites, who have shown little regard for how their misrule has hurt ordinary citizens, still have a firm grasp on the reins of power. The global financial crisis imposed tremendous costs on investors and society at large, via unemployment, a housing bust, plunging tax revenues, cuts in government services and increasing political discord. No one in a position of influence before the crisis has been punished or even suffered much. In fact, as Matt Stoller has pointed out, the rich became even richer, with 93% of the gains in income under Obama going to the top 1%.
So it isn’t surprising that what passes for leadership in the US is gearing up to provide us with more of the same, since it has worked out so well for them.
Read more...Drums Beating to Privatize Social Security
This Real News Network interview with Bill Black provides an overview of why Wall Street and the Administration are so keen to gut well loved and socially valuable safety nets for the elderly, in particular, Social Security. This talk is a good introduction for people who may not understand how high the stakes in the budget fight are and why the economic arguments used to justify it are bogus.
Read more...
