The defenders of the economic orthodoxy have gotten much more shrill of late. In a perverse way, this is probably a positive sign: they might be feeling a tad worried that they are starting to lose their hold over consensus reality. But given how quick various media outlets are to pick up and amplify their […]
Read more...I’m not certain what to make of an article at the New York Times this evening, “Senate Liberals Move to Toughen Bill Regulating Wall Street.” Liberals? That is a word that has almost disappeared from polite conversation. “Liberal” is a term used by those of the conservative persuasion to discredit anyone to the left of […]
Read more...Would you believe the chairman of a financial firm who told you that he was going to be able to pay off his loans to you when: 1. The company was showing a not-negative net worth ONLY because it had marked down its loans on its accounting statements by 7.5%, even when the loan agreement […]
Read more...But opacity, leverage, and moral hazard are not accidental byproducts of otherwise salutary innovations; they are the direct intent of the innovations. No one at the major capital markets firms was celebrated for creating markets to connect borrowers and savers transparently and with low risk. After all, efficient markets produce minimal profits. They were instead […]
Read more...An article at the Independent, “Goldman packs a punch: Sherwood and Van Praag take their corners“: Wonder when we’ll see the first display ad along these lines….
Read more...It’s ironic how the “Goldman was so smart to have shorted subprime” meme is now being turned on its head in the MSM as Goldman’s conduct in the run-up to the crisis is begin re-examined in a new light. The underlying premise of the Goldman defenders is that it is fine for the firm to […]
Read more...Yves Smith Watch: These two posts are MUST reads for anyone concerned about derivatives, systemic risk and regulation. And Yves is mentioned in both! Brooksley Born Raises an Important Question, But Answers are Weak FireDogLake (hat tip Beverly) The Magnetar Trade: How One Hedge Fund Helped Keep the Bubble Going ProPublica (hat tip John) Debt […]
Read more...I originally wrote this post at Credit Writedowns under a different title yesterday. I have changed the title to more accurately reflect what I am driving at in the post. Otherwise the post is exactly the same. The question is: which media companies will find their revenue streams threatened by the shift in the financial […]
Read more...The Roosevelt Institute sponsored a conference at the Columbia School of International and Public Affairs, “Facing the Fracture: Media & Economic Understanding,” which focused on the reporting challenge posed by the global financial crisis, particularly given the continuing economic pressures on news organizations. I’ve seen the difficulties faced by the MSM in conventional terms, and […]
Read more...This is a bit O/T for the blog, but Matt Taibbi is in full flamethrowing rant mode, always an impressive sight (will “you’ve been vampire squidded” eventually enter the lexicon?) And the target is plenty deserving. Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York, has attempted to defend the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now current Pope, […]
Read more...The so-called Valukas report on the Lehman bankruptcy has put a harsh light on the final months of the floundering firm and the regulators who stepped up their oversight, in particular, the New York Fed. Some of the NY Fed’s moves have been so indefensible as to in and of themselves warrant full bore investigation. […]
Read more...I’ve seldom seen so much rubbish written by people who ought to know better in a single day. Many critical thinkers have heaped the scorn and incredulity on three articles, one a piece on Rahm Emanuel slotted to run in the Sunday New York Times Magazine, another an artfully packed laudatory piece on Timothy Geithner […]
Read more...By Tom Adams, an attorney and former monoline executive I’m usually cynical about these “genius of Wall Street” articles, but the Vanity Fair article “Larry Fink’s $12 Trillion Shadow” by Suzanna Andrews, about the head of the world’s largest money manager, BlackRock, raises the cliche to another level. My skepticism results both from the disconnect […]
Read more...By Richard Smith, a London-based capital markets IT specialist Hmm, I wonder if Yves’s resolution authority post will become the econoblogosphere’s equivalent to Clochemerle’s shattered urinal and its entourage of rioters. Surely not; yet it’s impressive how often such modest, utilitarian objects – a pissoir, a blog post about a financial reform proposal – can […]
Read more...The Fed, having performed abysmally in recognizing the growth of a global debt bubble, and then having botched the early-stage reactions (after each of the first three acute phases, it went into Mission Accomplished mode), now is pushing not simply to hold its turf, but expand its sphere of influence. From the New York Times: […]
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