Yearly Archives: 2012

Greece and the Rest of the Eurozone Remain on the Road to Hell

Posted on June 18, 2012 by Mitch Green | 12 comments

So for the short term, it appears we won’t have a “Grexit”, which has led many commentators to suggest (laughably) that a crisis has been averted. Typical of this sentiment is a headline in Bloomberg today “Greece avoids chaos; Big Hurdles Loom”. To paraphrase Pete Townsend, meet the new chaos, same as the old chaos. It is worth pondering how acceptance of the Troika’s program (even if cosmetic adjustments are made) will help hospitals get access to essential medical supplies (see here), whilst the government persists in enforcing a program which is killing its private sector by cutting spending and not paying legitimate bills, and an unemployment rate creeps towards 25 per cent and 50 per cent for youth. Continue reading →

12 Comments

Posted in Marshall Auerback

Tagged austerity, Eurozone, greece, troika

Dimon’s Dictum: “Poorly underwritten loans represent income today and losses tomorrow.”

Posted on June 18, 2012 by Mitch Green | 2 comments

By William K. Black

The aphorism is by Jamie Dimon. I took it from his March 30, 2012 Letter to shareholders (p. 8). The immediately preceding sentence was: “Low-quality revenue is easy to produce, particularly in financial services.” Continue reading →

2 Comments

Posted in William K. Black

MMP Blog #51: The Efficiency Fairy and Inflation Goblins

Posted on June 17, 2012 by Mitch Green | 94 comments

By L. Randall Wray

The main objection to MMT is the belief that adoption of a fiat money necessarily leads to high inflation if not to hyperinflation. Those who adopt this critique usually see MMT as a proposal, although some (like Paul Samuelson) recognize that MMT actually describes the system we already have. The latter group fears that if we tell the truth about the existing monetary system, then elected officials will “run the printing presses” to create high inflation. Hence, best to adopt what Samuelson described as the “old time religion” of lies about the fiscal options open to sovereign government to keep the inflation goblins at bay. Continue reading →

94 Comments

Posted in L. Randall Wray, MMP

Germany’s Constitutional Conundrum

Posted on June 13, 2012 by Stephanie Kelton | 22 comments

By Marshall Auerback

Hans-Werner Sinn, President of Germany’s Ifo Institute and the Director of the Center for Economic Studies at the University of Munich, has taken to the pages of the NY Times to explain why Berlin is balking on a further bailout for Europe. Amongst the points that Sinn makes against German sharing in the debt of the euro zone’s southern nations is a legal one: “For one thing, such a bailout is illegal under the Maastricht Treaty, which governs the euro zone. Because the treaty is law in each member state, a bailout would be rejected by Germany’s Constitutional Court.”

Continue reading →

22 Comments

Posted in Uncategorized

Marshall Auerback’s Latest Appearance on BNN

Posted on June 13, 2012 by Mitch Green | Comments Off

Click here to view Marshall’s latest appearance on BNN’s Business Day.

Comments Off on Marshall Auerback’s Latest Appearance on BNN

Posted in Marshall Auerback

Hedge Fund Managers: Sex Talk and Prostitutes

Posted on June 12, 2012 by Mitch Green | 7 comments

By Janet Tavakoli

When performing due diligence, investors consider capacity, capital, and character. Investors will develop a subjective opinion of character informed by their own standards and those of the society in which they live. Continue reading →

7 Comments

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged hedge fund managers, Janet Tavakoli, prostitutes, sex talk

House Republicans Try to Create the World’s Worst Criminogenic Environment

Posted on June 11, 2012 by Mitch Green | 9 comments

By William K. Black
(Cross-posted from Benzinga.com)

In criminology, we recognize that one of the leading restraints on the effectiveness of law enforcement is “systems capacity.” Indeed, my mentor, Henry Pontell (UC Irvine), defined the concept. In the context of crimes of the street (other than Wall Street), there is normally no lobby trying to allow the typically lower class criminals to commit their crimes with impunity. In crimes of the business suites, however, it is the norm that there are well-funded, powerful, and seemingly legitimate lobbyists for the elite criminals who seek to allow them to commit their crimes with impunity. Similarly, it is rare for street criminals to consult a lawyer before they commit their crimes. Elite white-collar criminals often consult with expert legal counsel before, during, and after they commit their crimes in order to try to minimize the risk of being sanctioned. Continue reading →

9 Comments

Posted in William K. Black

Tagged Control Fraud, criminogenic environment, new york times, republicans

Response to Blog 50: Conclusion – Minsky and the Job Guarantee

Posted on June 8, 2012 by Mitch Green | 32 comments

By L. Randall Wray

As I said I am not going to provide responses to comments on the final blogs of the primer. In any case, the commentary has degenerated into a chat room utilized largely by aging retirees who do not understand that we’ve got at least 25 million people in the US who want full-time jobs but cannot obtain them. The JG is a program designed to offer jobs to those who want to work. If our aged retirees are correct, we’ll offer the JG at and no one will show up to claim the job. I cannot see what all the fuss is about. Continue reading →