Monthly Archives: August 2009
India & Pakistan – Get over it!
On the Peterson Institute for International Economics Monitor, Mohsin S. Khan sits down with Steve Weisman and argues that both India and Pakistan have much to gain by putting aside their hostilities and increasing economic cooperation and trade. Please read … Continue reading
Oligarchy
On the U.S. EconoMonitor, Robert Reich looks at the composition of the Senate Finance Committee and questions why so much power for deciding the future of health care is concentrated in six senators (three Republican and three Democrat) hands. See … Continue reading
Our secret government
“When an unprecedented amount of taxpayer dollars were lent to financial institutions in unprecedented ways and the Federal Reserve refused to make public any of the details of its extraordinary lending, Bloomberg News asked the court why U.S. citizens don’t … Continue reading
The market-perceived monetary policy rule
Stanford Professor John Taylor has suggested that monetary policy could be summarized in terms of a simple rule, lowering interest rates when output is too low and raising them when inflation is too high. A number of academic papers have … Continue reading
Zombie GM Stock is Proof Humans Are Not Rational
I have mentioned this in the past, but its one of those absurdities that refuses to die: “Whether it’s a matter of ignorance or greed, people are still buying General Motors stock, even though the company and the government have … Continue reading
Fun with derivatives
Fresh off my vacation, I have jury duty tomorrow, but today I got a jump on my fun reading for the courthouse – Traders, Guns, & Money, the anecdote-packed overview of derivatives by Satyajit Das, a prolific consultant, author, and … Continue reading
Bernanke to stay put
by Bill Bonner at the Daily Reckoning Ouzilly, France Damned if he does; damned if he doesn’t This week, Ben Bernanke got the nod for another stint as head of the world’s most important central bank. Yes, he completely misunderstood … Continue reading
The Forgotten Man
A Public Choice Primer Amity Shlaes, a senior fellow in economic history at the Council on Foreign Relations, has an excellent primer on public choice in the August 3 edition of Forbes, “The New PC.” Shlaes is also the author … Continue reading
Destiny? No, Stupidity!
Demographic Bomb – the movie that says demography is destiny Andrea Mrozek | 18 August 2009 What should we make of a movie claiming the human family is headed for decline? Read more…
Bond Bears do a dump
Bond Bears Dumping Two-Year Treasuries Defy Fed Rate History Bloomberg … simply because there’s no inflation,” said Michael Cheah, who manages $2 billion in bonds at SunAmerica Asset Management in Jersey City, New Jersey. …
Just the facts…
Misleading Or False Claims Rampant in Health Debate You’ve heard competing versions of what the various health care proposals would actually do if they become law. A close look at the rhetoric around this summer’s hot issue shows a wide … Continue reading
Forever blowing bubbles
dpa <!– OAS_RICH(‘Middle2′); // –> Ever wanted to know why bubbles are round? Or how bubbles can help architects solve problems? A new exhibition at the Phaeno Science Museum in Wolfsburg, Germany, is taking the childhood pursuit of bubble blowing … Continue reading
It’s a joke
What Health Co-ops And Seinfeld Have In Common By John Edgell North Dakota’s Kent Conrad, the moderate, unassuming Senate Finance Committee member and Budget Committee chairman, is in the spotlight these days.
Sunday Commentary
The Public Option – A Perspective from Acton Institute Imagine You Are a Doctor By Hunter Baker Hunter Baker examines the push for the “public option” — the creation of a government backed insurance system — as part of health … Continue reading
CFO: the library
Most Downloaded White Papers Mobile Companies Finish First: Why Being Out Is In Sponsored by Runzheimer International 8 Steps to Immediately Reduce Workforce Costs Sponsored by SuccessFactors Getting Ready for International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Sponsored by Epicor Software
Labor law guidance from CFO
Labor Related Compliance Risk is Growing Sponsored by Kronos Wage and hour compliance is one of the most difficult and persistent problems for employers to interpret and apply. Don’t get caught off guard. Get expert advice from Paul DeCamp, former … Continue reading
The new mortgage fraud
The New Mortgage Fraud: Kick ‘Em When They’re Down By Kelsey VanOverloop The mortgage fraudsters are back, but this time they’re preying on people struggling to keep their homes out of foreclosure. Kelsey VanOverloop looks at how the “Foreclosure Rescue” … Continue reading
Socialism in America
Socialism in America A great deal has been made in recent weeks about Ronald Reagan‘s critique of nationalized or socialized health care from 1961: We can go back a bit further, though, and take a look at an intriguing piece … Continue reading
Bernanke’s Apoplithorismosphobia
Mises Daily by Mark Thornton | Posted on 8/19/2009 12:00:00 AM Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, like most mainstream economists, has an irrational fear of deflation — whether it is understood as falling prices or a contracting money supply. I have … Continue reading
A growing sense of failure
Americans Want ‘Freedom to Pay Too Much for Inferior Health Care’ US President Barack Obama has lost his messianic status in the row over health care reform, say German media commentators. The debate reveals the downside of America’s ideological aversion … Continue reading
Highway Projects on Hold for Lack of Funding Clarity
State transportation officials say uncertainty about future funding is forcing them to foreswear ambitious new projects in favor of simple maintenance and repairs. [Read More]
Department of Existential Reassurance
“FBI director Robert S. Mueller III announced Monday that the entire manpower of his increasingly disillusioned agency has been diverted into a massive nationwide search for some semblance of genuine, concrete truth,” The Onion reports. “ ‘After years of investigating … Continue reading
H2 2009 Pick-Up in GDP Growth a Temporary Phenomenon
From RGE Monitor: In H2 2009, as the economy bottoms out from a record contraction (the worst in the last 60 years), adjustments, such as slower inventory destocking, will occur, while policy measures such as “cash for clunkers” will boost … Continue reading
Scaling new heights
REUTERS Indonesians in Jakarta clamber to the top of greased poles to reach prizes hung at the top of them during a game played to celebrate the country’s Independence Day on Aug. 17. The anniversary marks the 64th year of … Continue reading
Financial Crisis Called Off
by James Howard Kunstler Saratoga Springs, New York Whew, what a relief! Everybody from Ben Bernanke and a Who’s Who of banking poobahs schmoozing it up in the heady vapors of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to the dull scribes at The … Continue reading →