Déjà vu all over again?

All the major stock indices were up over 4 percent today, on news that central bankers announced they would reduce costs for banks in foreign countries to borrow dollars. The reaction among traders seemed to signal a belief the euro crisis is over. But perhaps a little history is in order: Some noted sharp gains [...]

Show us what a bailout looks like. . .

This is what a bailout looks like! As Felix Salmon explains, The black line is Morgan Stanley’s market capitalization, which tends to hover in the $40 billion range but which fell as low as $9.8 billion in November 2008. The orange line is the amount that Morgan Stanley owed to the Federal Reserve on any [...]

Economist of the day

I teach financial markets, and it’s a little like teaching R.O.T.C. during the Vietnam War. You have this sense that something’s amiss. Robert J. Shiller, Arthur M. Okun Professor of Economics, Yale University

Social safety net BS

There’s an awful lot of BS in the economic debate these days. One example of BS is the idea that the bailout of the banks was not really a bailout. Another is Casey Mulligan’s idea that unemployment remains high because the social safety net is too generous. Of course, most people work hard despite a [...]

Bailout BS

Steve Waldman explains why the idea that the bailout of the banks was not really a bailout is pure and simple BS. Substantially all of the TARP funds advanced to banks have been paid back, with interest and sometimes even with a profit from sales of warrants. Most of the (much larger) extraordinary liquidity facilities [...]

Map of the day

source [ht: db] A low foreclosure rate signifies a county in which fewer than one in 150,000 properties has had a foreclosure action. A moderate rate is between one in 4000 and one in 700, while a high rate indicates more than 1 foreclosure action in 700 properties.

Public art of the day

source [ht: mfa]

Protest of the day

Mass strikes of public sector workers in the UK

Honorary Italian—Berlusconi edition

Here’s Alan Greenspan, extolling the virtues of the self-regulating financial sector, in a speech before the National Italian American Foundation, in 2005: It is a pleasure once again to speak before the National Italian American Foundation. I have long since been awarded the status of honorary Italian, for which I am sincerely appreciative. . . [...]

Cartoon of the day

Special mention