Yearly Archives: 2012

Introducing New Video Series, The Bottom Line

This is the introductory video in a series sponsored by Econ4. From their website:

The voices of China’s workers

This video is a presentation by Leslie T. Chang via TEDTalks, so granted it’s full of TEDitude,* but it’s definitely worth a listen, especially in the context of “supply chain justice,” the issue raised by OUR Walmart.

Links 10/16/12

Quelle Surprise! Sorkin Tells Remarkable Whoppers to Defend His Wall Street Sources

Andrew Ross Sorkin has a remarkable piece of hogwash masquerading as a story today. His new piece, “Nowadays, Wall Street Saviors May Wish They Weren’t,” blatantly rewrites crisis history claiming that buyers of failed firms were “pressured” by the government do transactions during the crisis and the Big Bad Government got the better of them.

Contra the Economic Bulls: Pursued Debt Collection Amounts Increase by 8% in First Six Months of 2012

Matt Stoller is a fellow at the Roosevelt Institute. You can follow him at http://www.twitter.com/matthewstoller

The economy bulls are back at it again, claiming that all is well.

Iberian Pain Only Getting Worse as Spanish Population Falls, Portugal Goes All in For More Failed Austerity

Yves here. Wolf Richter’s latest post may seem a bit breathless, but my assumption is that this rhetorical choice is an effort to try to penetrate Eurocrisis fatigue. The continuing decay, the ongoing last minute patch-ups, the Punch and Judy show between Germany and anyone who dares say anything bad about its perverse creditor moralism, is feeling so stale that it’s easy to tune out.

Yet even though the headlines all seem to be of a muchness, they mask an ongoing deterioration that at some point will produce a state change.

Michael Olenick: Mortgage Industrial Complex Continues Its Push Against Rule of Law

By Michael Olenick, creator of NASTIACO, a crowd sourced foreclosure document review system (still in alpha). You can follow him on Twitter at @michael_olenick or read his blog, Seeing Through Data

The meaning of the word “chutzpah” varies by context. In criminal court, it might refer to murdering one’s parents then asking for leniency because the perpetrator is an orphan. In family court, it might be invoked when abandoning a child, then pleading the child has been alienated from the parent who left.

We now have a property court usage: perpetrating a massive, well documented fraud then complaining that court bottlenecks – which exist solely because of fraud perpetrated by bank lawyers – cause expensive delays.

Rajiv Sethi: Of Bulls and Bair

By Rajiv Sethi, Professor of Economics, Barnard College, Columbia University & External Professor, Santa Fe Institute. Cross posted from his blog

Sheila Bair’s new book, Bull by the Horns, is both a crisis narrative and a thoughtful reflection on economic institutions and policy. The crisis narrative, with its revealing first-hand accounts of high-level meetings, high-stakes negotiations, behind-the-scenes jockeying, and clashing personalities will attract the most immediate attention. But it’s the economic analysis that will constitute the more enduring contribution.

Biden and Ryan Tee Up “The Grand Bargain” in the Vice Presidential Debate

Mithradates, he died old. — A.E. Housman, Terence, this is stupid stuff

I started out wanting to make a simple point — it's in the headline — about the Biden/Ryan debate, but as I dug deeper, the post started to turn into a case study of Big Lie management by the political class, with an appendix on transcription technology. Yes, "started," and I didn't say "'finished," but perhaps this approach will prove useful in post-game analysis of tomorrow's spectacle, because we can see all the players working together for shared goals (in this case, bringing austerity Social Security and Medicare (Down, Pete!)). So a post that started out as a standard media critique using close reading might have ended up as something more.

The Biden hagiography after last Tuesday's debate was pretty thick. A quick tour of the blogs of Obama loyalists and/or apparatchiks:

Bill Black: The Vampire Squid Morphs into Jilted Valley Girl

By Bill Black, the author of The Best Way to Rob a Bank is to Own One and an associate professor of economics and law at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Cross posted from New Economic Perspectives.

Matt Taibbi famously dubbed Goldman “a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money.” Taibbi knew his metaphor worked a deep injustice on Vampyroteuthis infernalis, a small animal that feeds on carrion and excrement (I will let the reader explore the metaphorical possibilities). Goldman Sachs’ leaders were always secretly flattered by Taibbi’s metaphor. They like being thought of as hyper-aggressive and intimidating. Saying that an investment banker’s goal is to make money is to state the obvious and causes no embarrassment.

The news flash is that Goldman Sachs has revealed her new, softer side.

Links 10/15/12

Why is a Price-Fixing/Collusion Lawsuit Against the Biggest Names in Private Equity Getting Only Cursory Notice?

It’s troubling that some stinging charges against the very biggest names in private equity are getting only passing attention in the financial media.

Home Appraisers: A Market Failure?

There’s an interesting sign of homebuyer champing at the bit to lever up again with all the “housing has bottomed” talk in a New York Times article last week, “Scrutiny for Home Appraisers as the Market Struggles.” The headline signals the new complaint about appraisers: they aren’t rubber stamping deals entered into by willing buyers and sellers! They are therefore holding back the housing market!

While this frustration among housing enthusiasts is a squeaky wheel in the housing market that probably does warrant comment by the Grey Lady, there are more serious market failures in appraisal land that also deserve attention.

So Where is Schneiderman? Computerized Robosigning Has Made Its Debut

In case you had any doubts about the wisdom of state-level actions to strengthen homeowner rights, the discovery of a new type of abuse, computerized robosigning, should put them to rest.