Michael Pettis: Forget the Plenum
ves here. Pettis highlights the difficulties of restructuring the Chinese economy to feature more small business lending and consumption and calls them “political.” I’m not sure I agree fully.
Read more...Yearly Archives: 2013
Bill Black:The Department of Justice’s Willful Blindness to the Willful Blindness of CEOs (Steve Cohen Edition)
Yves here. I’ve been loath to write about the prosecution of SAC Capital because I’ve viewed it as a misuse of scarce SEC and DoJ resources. We had a global financial crisis and they make their top priorities two hedgie insider traders, Raj Rajaratnam and Steve Cohen?
Read more...Links 11/14/13
Wikileaks Disclosure of Trade Deal Chapter Shows It Will Kill People and Internet; House Opposition is Widespread
We posted on the New York Times news story that opposition in the House to authorization of “fast track” authority to the Administration on its pending Pacific and Atlantic trade deals was stiffening right just before a related story broke: that Wikileaks had disclosed the end of August draft of one of the critical chapters of one of the deals. We address that oversight today.
Read more...ObamaCare Rollout: Administration PR Tactics and the First Release of Enrollment Numbers
The “enrollment” numbers for the Healthcare.gov website, even using the Administration’s Orwellian definition of “enrolled” was barely above half of the scary bad number published as a rumor by the Wall Street Journal earlier this week.. Generous application of porcine maquillage followed.
Read more...Judge Rakoff Blasts Breuer, Prosecution of Companies Rather than Individuals in Bar Speech
Absent sitting on the Supreme Court, it is difficult for a single judge to effect much change. Yet Jed Rakoff, in sending the SEC back to the woodshed in two separate cases over its failure to get factual admissions, meaning admissions of misconduct, on civil settlements of SEC cases, singlehandedly embarrassed the SEC and the Department of Justice into seeking these statements (for instance, numerous media reports indicate that the Administration wants that sort of confession as part of its pending settlement with JP Morgan).
Rakoff threw down another gauntlet in a New York Bar Association speech on Tuesday.
Read more...Gemmax Solutions’ Belated Admission About Carbon Credits Bought by Retail Clients of Gemmax’s Brokers
Carbon credit clearer Gemmax Solutions admits that it can’t clear carbon credits, and hasn’t been able to, for nearly a year.
Read more...House Pushing Back on Trade Deal; More Detail on How Secret Arbitration Panels Undermine Laws and Regulations
Wow, this is amazing. Word has apparently gotten out even to Congressmen who can normally be lulled to sleep with the invocation of the magic phrase “free trade” that the pending Trans Pacific Partnership is toxic. But this isn’t over until the fat lady sings. So this is the time when it is REALLY important to call or e-mail your Representative and let him or her know how terrible this deal is and how firmly opposed to it you are.
Read more...Links 11/13/13
IEA: Shale Boom is Only Temporary, We’ll Soon be Relying on the Middle East Again
Yves here. We’ve written repeatedly about how short-lived shale gas wells are compared to conventional oil wells. The fact that the much-touted shale gas play will in aggregate abate relatively quickly is not something its proponents want the greater public to hear.
Read more...Tom Engelhardt: Mistaking Omniscience for Omnipotence
Given how similar they sound and how easy it is to imagine one leading to the other, confusing omniscience (having total knowledge) with omnipotence (having total power) is easy enough. But at the moment, Washington seems to be operating in a world in which the more you know about the secret lives of others, the less powerful you turn out to be.
Read more...Randy Wray: What If China Dumps US Treasury Bonds? Paul Krugman Inches Toward MMT
Our deficit hysterians love to raise the specter of China.
Read more...Paul Seakens of Gemmax Solutions Limited Takes an Idiotic Pop at “Naked Capitalism” and “redd-monitor”
Paul Seakens of Gemmax Solutions Limited Takes an Idiotic Pop at “Naked Capitalism” and “redd-monitor”
Read more...Links 11/12/13
Michael Olenick: Comprehensive Review of ObamaCare Plans Reveals Not Only High Cost for Atrocious Coverage, but Also Apparent Violations of ACA Requirements
After five weeks healthcare.gov presented insurance policies for my family to purchase. No wonder the website was dark for so long: the plans are expensive, atrocious, and the insurance companies look like they are cheating.
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