Category Archives: Media watch

Robert Shiller Advocates and Engages in NewSpeak and Dubious Analysis in NYT Piece

As an article in today’s New York Times makes clear, Robert Shiller has joined a group of behavioral economists that is advocating the use of propaganda and the sublter forms of manipulation of the public that Walter Lippmann famously called “the manufacture of consent.” In one sense, this ugly development is coming full circle. Lippmann […]

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Guess about Mish

Various commenters have noticed that Mish’s blog has vanished. My guess – a spurious “terms of service violation”. Google’s robot spam monitors sometimes screw up by giving false positives – something like this happened to Yves (see para 3) back when NC was on Blogger. I can’t imagine they’ll shut up Mish for long and […]

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Twitter joke trial

Dunno if you guys in the US are up to speed on the Twitter joke trial, a classic collision of new technology, post 9/11 paranoia, witless judges, and a hapless victim. Here’s one of our leading comedy scriptwriters on the warpath back in May. The conviction was upheld on appeal! Here’s a geek carefully setting […]

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The US Becoming More Like Japan: Controlled Press Edition

Marshall Auerback, who lived in Japan during its early post bubble years, sent this e-mail: Today’s New York Times reports on how the Saudis warned the US about the planned parcel bomb attack emanating from Yemen. Buried in the story was this line: “The German magazine Der Spiegel told The New York Times it would […]

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Treasury Thumbs Nose at Bloomberg FOIA Request on Citi Guarantees

In Rudy Giuliani’s second term as mayor, the famed backer of law n’ order had a great fondness for taking it into his own hands. Groups that wanted to assemble on the steps of City Hall were required to file a notice or petition of some sort. A peculiar ritual would then ensue. The mayor’s […]

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Wall Street Journal Runs Inaccurate Piece on Antiforclosure Lawyers

It take a fair degree of skill to pen a journalistic story that hews to the appearance of objectivity yet is out to sell a point of view. The lead article in the Journal tonight, “Niche Lawyers Spawned Housing Fracas” telegraphs its bias in its headline: the foreclosure crisis is merely the creation of two […]

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MSM Distancing Itself From Bank Party Line on Foreclosure Crisis

We’ll see next week whether two articles, one in the Wall Street Journal, the other in the New York Times, are a sign of a sea change in the media posture towards the banking industry’s spin efforts, at least as far as the securitization mess is concerned. Let’s face it, the banks have lied so […]

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Guest Post: Tim Geithner’s Magical Mystery Tour Of TARP Propaganda Has Little Use For Truth

By Dr. Pitchfork, an iconoclast who writes at Daily Bail. In “5 Myths About TARP,” Tim Geithner joins Steve Rattner and Herb Allison in the parade of Washington insiders who have gone out of their way to tout the great success of TARP, calling it the “most effective government program in recent memory.” If you […]

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Satyajit Das: Pleasant & Unpleasant “Truths”

Yves here. If nothing else, be sure to read the section on the Money Honey book. By Satyajit Das, a risk consultant and author of Traders, Guns & Money: Knowns and Unknowns in the Dazzling World of Derivatives – Revised Edition (2010, FT-Prentice Hall). Michael Hirsh (2010) Capital Offense: How Washington’s Wise Men Turned America’s […]

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Now It’s Official: Obama Administration Blocked Scientist Estimates on BP Spill

Last night, some fresh comments by Obama Administration officials confirmed its cynicism and duplicity in its Ministry of Truth version of health care reform. It’s one thing to suspect Team Obama was playing the public for a fool, quite another to have proof. Today we have more corroboration of Obama Administration double dealing, this on […]

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Public Option Duplicity Revisited: Yet More Evidence of Obama Spinelessness

One of the defenses I occasionally hear about the Obama sellout to financiers runs something like this: “Obama isn’t interested in finance and economics, he delegated that to Summers and Geithner. Indeed, it was because he was so insecure in this area that he went with established figures who could [to use that horrid expression] […]

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Congressmen Attack LPS, Servicer Misconduct; PR Counteroffensive Starting

Only been a few Congressmen have weighed in on the mortgage documentation mess so far, since wrapping up the current Congressional session and campaigning consumes a lot of bandwidth. Nevertheless, I am getting reports from DC that people on the Hill are starting to take the issue of foreclosure document fabrication, errors, and improprieties seriously. […]

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Rating Agencies, The Subprime Blame Game, and Fishy FCIC Testimony

Let’s be clear: there are plenty of bad guys, chumps, and people who should have known better in the subprime mess. High on the list for well deserved scorn are the ratings agencies, who still retain a central role in structured credit. Well, now, come to think of it, the mortgage securities business is now […]

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Auerback: TARP Was Not a Success – It Simply Institutionalized Fraud

By Marshall Auerback, a portfolio analyst, hedge fund manager, and Roosevelt Institute fellow There’s a good reason why the Troubled Asset Relief Program (aka “TARP”) is “a success none dare mention”, to use the title of Ben Smith’s latest post at Politico. Put simply, it’s not a success. Calling the TARP a success is like […]

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