I’ve pretty much been on board with the idea that we need to save the financial system in order to help re-start the economy. I’m not happy with many of the specifics (I generally think the existing financial players are getting too many breaks), but I’m willing to see the government do something to keep […]
For your enjoyment, a new Broadway musical: “Worst Slide Story.”
Okay, so this is bad. The Great Recession is whacking years off the life of Medicare and Social Security. Medicare remains the major problem, however. Health care costs are growing so fast that paying for medical services is going to severely damage the federal budget going forward. That’s why Obama is pushing so hard for […]
So, Karl Rove came to Peoria to speak. I applaud everyone who turned out to protest. What was most interesting to me is, though, is this: I moved here about a year-and-a-half ago. I have read the Peoria Journal Star almost every day, including the stories and columns by the designated political reporters. But I […]
In a previous post, I said I am for globalization – for a further interconnectedness among the people of earth. This short presentation highlights some of my concerns.
The New York Times has a good article on community banks and how they largely stayed away from all of the financial destruction – oh, I mean “innovation” – that brought down the country’s biggest banks. It’s important when we talk about “Wall Street” and “the banks” to know exactly whom and what behaviors we’re […]
Conservatives spend a lot of time belly-aching about “patriotism.” (Actually, they’ve been pretty effective at it and have pretty much owned the word. More work for liberals to do…) But what counts as patriotic is not that simple, especially in a globalized economic age. The bailouts of the auto industry being managed by the Obama […]
Obviously this economic meltdown of the last couple of years is complex. But if pressed to give a one-sentence answer, I would say this: For almost thirty years the financial sector got whatever it wanted. Certain conditions had to be place to make this possible: the widely held idea that markets and business people can […]
Two additional articles worth reading: Stress Tests and the Nationalization We Got, The Baseline Scenario SEC Squanders a Shot at Reform, Wall Street Journal Basically we’ve lost all momentum for reforming the banking sector, and it’s unlikely to come back. Business as usual will continue. And: Our Future as a Financial Colony, Brad DeLong So […]
Following up on my last post on cramdown, I want to highlight this opinion piece from the Wall Street Journal. The author makes the point that many people in the U.S. are saying we need a banking system more like Canada’s, which is in much less trouble than our own. (What does Canada not do […]
Bill Poorman 