“My view of the crisis is that every sector of the establishment has been discredited. The financial establishment has been discredited. Government policymakers and regulators have been discredited. And academic economics has been discredited. The fact that we now have all three on the same page about policy going forward is hardly comforting.” — Arnold […]
Archive for October, 2008
Oct15th2008
As explained by Warren Buffett:
QUICK: If you imagine where things will go with Fannie and Freddie, and you think about the regulators, where were the regulators for what was happening, and can something like this be prevented from happening again?
Mr. BUFFETT: Well, it’s really an incredible case study in regulation because something called OFHEO was […]
Oct14th2008
Political solutions, unlike what some may think, have severe limitations. Economist Arnold Kling lists some of the limitations, regardless of the political party or the particular politician:
Meanwhile, I pledge the following:
1. That no politician will end America’s consumption of foreign oil. Ever.
2. That no politician will figure out a way to bring the bottom […]
Oct13th2008
Why does every mistake Sarah Palin make get significantly more press coverage than the mistakes of Joe Biden?
For example, did you know that Joe Biden does not know much history:
“Also in the CBS interview, Biden said, “When the stock market crashed, Franklin D. Roosevelt got on the television and didn’t just talk about the, you […]
Oct11th2008
A video:
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Oct10th2008
Another Reason To Like Wal-Mart: Weight
Published by in Economics, Hispanics (Minority Issues) and Wal-Mart. 0 CommentsA new research paper:
We estimate the impacts of Wal-Mart and warehouse club retailers on height-adjusted body weight and overweight and obesity status, finding robust evidence that non-grocery selling Wal-Marts reduce weight while grocery-selling Wal-Marts and warehouse clubs either reduce weight or have no effect. The effects appear strongest for women, minorities, urban residents, and the […]
Oct9th2008
Liberals: Charitable With Your Money Only
Published by in (modern day) Liberalism, General and ModernPolitics. 19 CommentsAbout a year ago Arthur C. Brooks, a professor at Syracuse University, published “Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth About Compassionate Conservatism“. The conclusion: liberals are markedly less charitable than conservatives.
Some of his conclusions:
— Although liberal families’ incomes average 6 percent higher than those of conservative families, conservative-headed households give, on average, 30 percent […]
Oct8th2008
If you think the GM and Ford problems are unique to them, George Will shows otherwise:
Joseph Tanner, who became city manager after this municipality of 120,000 souls was mismanaged to the brink of bankruptcy, stands at a whiteboard to explain the simple arithmetic that has pushed Vallejo over the brink. Its crisis — a […]
Oct7th2008
“An assessment of McCain’s plan from the Tax Policy Center (no right-wing ideologues, they) put it this way: “Workers offered insurance through their employers lose the value of the income tax exclusion but gain the credit; the combination leads to higher effective costs of insurance for some (those in the higher tax brackets or who […]
Oct6th2008
The Next President Will Face A Significant Budget Crunch
Published by in Economics, ModernPolitics and Taxes. 3 CommentsThe next president of the United States, whoever that person will be, will face a significant budget crunch - so significant in fact, that many of the things he promised will have to be forfeited. Why? In addition to the budget deficits from government health care and the the Iraq war that were already […]
Oct3rd2008
Thomas Sowell always has something interesting to say:
Among the Congressional “leaders” invited to the White House to devise a bailout “solution” are the very people who have for years created the risks that have now come home to roost.
Five years ago, Barney Frank vouched for the “soundness” of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and […]
Oct2nd2008
No analysis here because I was not able to watch it. I was at a breastfeeding class for my soon to be newborn son (my first kid).
I’ll find it on youtube and write about anything that catches my attention.
Oct2nd2008
“Republicans have favored financial regulation where it was necessary, as in the case of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, while the Democrats have opposed it. In 2005, the Senate Banking Committee, then under Republican control, adopted a tough regulatory bill for Fannie and Freddie over the unanimous opposition of committee Democrats. The opposition of the […]
Oct1st2008
“It is possible that the person on the street knows something that most economists don’t. Perhaps the crisis will remain largely a financial one and the real economy will be spared the worst. Casey Mulligan thinks the people are right and the economists wrong, and he makes a number of good arguments. […]
Oct1st2008
“It is worth noting, in answer to the libertarians who are wary of government intervention in the economy, that if there is a serious crash, we will get even more government intervention in the economy–and intervention that is much less to our liking. That cost has to be weighed in your assessment. On the other […]
