Author Archives: Devin Smith

Stephanie Kelton Appears on Le Show with Harry Shearer

Posted on October 27, 2012 | 46 comments

Stephanie appeared on Le Show with Harry Shearer on Sunday, October 28, 2012. The archive is available through Harry’s website which you can reach by clicking the image or here.

46 Comments

Posted in Stephanie Kelton

Tagged appearance, Harry Shearer, Le Show

The NEW USA…. A Thought Experiment

Posted on October 25, 2012 | 15 comments

By J.D. Alt

Since there seems to be general agreement that our current economic system is fatally bankrupt, it might be interesting to try a simple thought experiment to see if we can forge a more perfect union. Let’s quickly visualize a new nation from scratch—and set it up properly, so we don’t find ourselves, ever again, facing a “fiscal cliff.”

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15 Comments

Posted in J. D. Alt

Tagged monetary system

William Black Provides Details of the Government’s Civil Lawsuit Against Bank of America

Posted on October 25, 2012 | 2 comments

On 10/24/12, William Black appeared on WBAI’s Pacifica Radio with Linda Perry discussing the Government’s billion dollar civil lawsuit against Bank of America / Countrywide. You can listen to the program here.

2 Comments

Posted in William K. Black

Tagged bank of america, countrywide, department of justice, Financial crisis, mortgage fraud

The Social Economics of Thorstein Veblen

Posted on October 24, 2012 | 5 comments

By Michael Hudson
(Cross posted from eh.net)

Author: Reisman, David

Reviewer: Hudson, Michael

David Reisman, The Social Economics of Thorstein Veblen. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 2012. vii + 338 pp. $150 (hardcover), ISBN: 978-0-85793-218-1.

Reviewed for EH.Net by Michael Hudson, Department of Economics, University of Missouri – Kansas City.

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5 Comments

Posted in Michael Hudson

Tagged book review, Veblen

The Central Fact that Folks Don’t Get about Fannie and Freddie’s Role in the Crisis

Posted on October 24, 2012 | 5 comments

By William K. Black

Here’s the central thesis of the far right about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It is taken from the web site: The Neville Awards (as in Neville Chamberlain), which gives “awards” to Democrats for their cowardice and other mortal and venal sins. This particular article claims that the damnably clever Democrats, while the Republicans controlled the Presidency, House, Senate, Supreme Court, and all the regulatory agencies, pulled off a deliberate plan to destroy the economy in order to elect Obama. “Obama, Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac – How the Democrats Brought Down the Economy in Time to Elect Obama.”

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5 Comments

Posted in William K. Black

Tagged Control Fraud, Financial crisis, GSE, liar loans, sub-prime loans, sub-prime mortgage crisis

Neoliberalism Kills: Part Two

Posted on October 24, 2012 | 6 comments

By Joe Firestone

During Part One of this series, I approached the end of my post with this paragraph.

Apart from the political opposition from the insurance companies that Medicare for All would have engendered, I think the main justification for abandoning Medicare for All and switching to the PO and eventually the PO-less ACA, was actually neoliberalism. The President, his main advisers, the Democratic leaders in Congress, and most progressives working for Washington progressive organizations were steeped in neoliberal doctrine. They viewed the Bush tax cuts and the two Wars as unpaid for. The ARRA stimulus Act was similarly unpaid for and added to deficit spending and to the debt-subject-to-the-limit. They believed and most believe today that the Federal Government can have solvency problems if the debt-to-GDP ratio increases too much, and interest rates on the national debt are driven up by the bond vigilantes.

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6 Comments

Posted in Joe Firestone

Tagged austerity, budget deficits, debt burden, debt-to-GDP ratio, deficit hawks, Fiscal Responsibility, MMT, modern money theory, Neoliberalism. Fiscal sustainability

The City of London continues to drive the criminogenic regulatory race to the bottom

Posted on October 22, 2012 | 25 comments

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

Two years ago, I wrote an article entitled “The Bank of England Sows the Seeds of the Next UK Crisis.”

I was not vain enough to believe that the British establishment would listen to my critique. The books authored recently by Jeff Connaughton, Neil Barofsky, and Sheila Bair have made clear that the dominant strategy of the Bush and Obama administrations has been providing aid and comfort to the banksters who drove the crisis rather than holding them accountable for their crimes. The Brits are following the same dominant strategy.

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25 Comments

Posted in William K. Black

Tagged accounting control fraud, bank regulation, banksters, Control Fraud, criminogenic

The Payoff: Why Wall Street Always Wins – Jeff Connaughton

Posted on October 21, 2012 | 4 comments

Jeff Connaughton has just authored a major insider account revealing and explaining the failure of the politicians and regulators to hold the banksters who drove the financial crisis accountable and to remove the most obvious risks of future crises. On Sunday, October 21, 2012, UMKC’s Bill Black hosted a book salon on Firedoglake with Jeff Connaughton. With Connaughton’s permission, we are cross-posting his introductory post (which explains how he came to write the book) and Bill Black’s review of his book.

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4 Comments

Posted in William K. Black

Tagged banksters, Financial crisis, Jeff Connaughton, The Payoff

Romney’s $5 Trillion Tax Plan

Posted on October 21, 2012 | 9 comments

We have been able to find the details of Romney’s $5 Trillion tax plan. The details are available by clicking here.

9 Comments

Posted in Uncategorized

Myth Drives the Budget Fuss

Posted on October 19, 2012 | 36 comments

By Thornton “Tip” Parker

Nearly everyone believes that Uncle Sam is like a family that must get money before it can spend. But that is not true. A basic function of any sovereign government is to create and run the country’s money system. Unlike a family, the US government is sovereign. It creates money and can never run out. All the words about America’s financial limits mean nothing.

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