Monthly Archives: September 2012

Washington Post and the AIG Bailout

Posted on September 10, 2012 by Devin Smith | Comments Off

The Washington Post (9/10) published an article on the the “success” of the AIG bailout. NEP’s William Black explains the issue of perverse incentives created by the successful bailout.

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Posted in William K. Black

Tagged AIG, crony capitalism, Financial crisis, perverse incentives

Too Big To Jail

Posted on September 10, 2012 by Devin Smith | Comments Off

In a recent article (9/8) at Huffington Post, NEP’s William Black provides support as to why Wall Street executives should face criminal charges relating to the financial crisis.

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Posted in William K. Black

Tagged accounting control fraud, criminogenic, Great Financial Crisis

European views on financial regulation (and other American evils)

Posted on September 10, 2012 by Devin Smith | 5 comments

By William K. Black
(Cross posted at Benzinga.com)

I was invited back to the give the welcoming keynote address last week to the 33rd SFOA International Bürgenstock Meeting. SFOA is an acronym for the Swiss Futures and Option Association and their meeting (long held at Bürgenstock, Switzerland but now at Interlaken) is the preeminent meeting in Europe on financial derivatives. The meeting attracts industry participants, regulators, and academics from all over the world. I’m writing from the Munich airport, where I get to wait overnight for a flight back to the U.S.

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5 Comments

Posted in William K. Black

Tagged Control Fraud, gresham's dynamic, Subprime mortgage crisis

“We” Don’t Owe $16 Trillion; and You Don’t Owe $50,000

Posted on September 9, 2012 by Devin Smith | 25 comments

By Joe Firestone

Just saw John Sununu, one of Republicans favorite Bushie junk yard attack dogs all up in arms about the debt subject to the limit (the so-called national debt) reaching $16 Trillion dollars, and going on to tell people that every man, woman, and child in the United States now owes $50,000 to pay that debt off. Now, I’m here to tell you that all that is bull shit.

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25 Comments

Posted in Joe Firestone

Tagged coin seigniorage, John Sununu, MMT, national debt, PPCS

No, Barack, It Just Ain’t Gonna Happen!

Posted on September 9, 2012 by Devin Smith | 13 comments

By Joe Firestone

Who else thinks the President’s speech didn’t include any plans to create the 29 million full-time jobs for the dis-employed? Please raise your hand!

About jobs he said:

”We can help big factories and small businesses double their exports, and if we choose this path, we can create a million new manufacturing jobs in the next four years.” Continue reading →

13 Comments

Posted in Joe Firestone

Tagged Bill Mitchell, debt-to-GDP ratio, deficit reduction, deficits, Digby, entitlements, grand bargain, MMT, modern money theory, national debt, paul krugman, President Obama, sectoral financial balances model, Social Security

Preview of Modern Money and Public Purpose

Posted on September 8, 2012 by Devin Smith | 11 comments

Modern Money and Public Purpose is an eight-part, interdisciplinary seminar series held at Columbia Law School over the 2012-2013 academic year. The series aims to present new perspectives and progressive policy proposals on a range of contemporary issues facing the U.S. and global macroeconomy.

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11 Comments

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged Modern Money and Public Purpose, policy

Marshall Auerback Appears on BNN: ECB Bond Purchase Program

Posted on September 7, 2012 by Devin Smith | 2 comments

Marshall Auerback appeared on the September 6th episode of BNN’s Business Day discussing the ECB’s bond purchase plan. You can view it here.

2 Comments

Posted in Marshall Auerback

Tagged bonds, Draghi, ECB

New Sense—Common Sense

Posted on September 7, 2012 by Devin Smith | 54 comments

By J.D. ALT

The principal dilemma of the progressive cause is that it has allowed a bedrock conservative premise to go so long unchallenged; indeed the progressives themselves have either overtly or implicitly agreed with the premise, making it virtually impossible for them to effectively advocate their goals:

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54 Comments

Posted in J. D. Alt

Tagged budget, conservatives, deficit, progressives

“Misery”: A Postscript To “The Euro Is Not Unassailable”

Posted on September 6, 2012 by Devin Smith | 7 comments

By Marshall Auerback

This memorable scene in Misery is a perfect metaphor for the ECB’s much vaunted bond buying program.

In essence you have two distinct, but related problems: the solvency issue and the problem of deficient aggregate demand.

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7 Comments

Posted in Marshall Auerback

Tagged bonds, Draghi, ECB, euro

The Euro Is Not Unassailable, Even With The ECB’s Bond Buying

Posted on September 5, 2012 by Devin Smith | 10 comments

By Marshall Auerback

There appears to be an emerging consensus that the euro will survive, especially now that Mario Draghi has apparently grasped the nettle and persuaded his colleagues that the ECB is prepared to initiate unlimited purchases of national government bonds in order to underwrite their solvency. Of course, as usual
with the ECB, there’s a sting in the tail, the sting being additional “conditionality” (for which one can read more fiscal austerity) as a quid pro quo. It’s like dealing with Hannibal Lecter.