bloomberg.com - 1/8/2009
—
Commentary by John M. Berry Jan. 8 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. economy is in the throes of a deepening recession and needs a really big dose of fiscal stimulus to help stabilize it. What it doesn’t need is efforts by congressional Republicans to limit the size of the package because of feigned ...
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Readings 01/08/09
Paul Kedrosky's Infectious Greed —
Fed economists knock selves out trying to figure out why people don't want to own stocks (FRB) Mohammed El-Erian: Investors should hide under government wing (FT) China Is Losing Its Taste for U.S. Debt (NYT) China hasn’t (yet) lost its appetite for US Treasuries … (Setser) German bond auction fails to attract enough demand (Bloomberg) Monsanto's Profit Shoots Higher (WSJ) How is money created? (Bogleheads) CBO releases latest U.S. Budget and Economic Outlook (CBO) Largest one-month drop in c/card payments on ...
Starving the Unemployed
Economist's View —
During the Bush administration, the federal debt
"
nearly doubled," going from $5.7 trillion to $10.6 trillion. This was no
accident, but rather part of the Republican's "starve the beast" strategy for shrinking
government. While this was going on, many of us warned that if big
trouble hit, and if we had high deficits at the time, it would limit our ability
to respond in the most effective manner. E.g., from January 2006:
We are in a better position with respect to monetary policy now, but for
awhile we had very low interest rates coupled with very high budget deficits. In
such a case, when you've already thrown ...
links for 2009-01-09
Economist's View —
Not Doing Enough - John Judis
Geithner Preparing Overhaul Of Bailout - washingtonpost.com
Monetary Policy and the Crime Rate - Macro and Other Market Musings
Empirical evidence on the monetary policy trilemma since 1970 - voxeu.org
Nationwide Inquiry on Bids for Municipal Bonds - NYTimes.com
To Monetize or Not To Monetize: Who Cares? - Andy Harless
Republican Fear of Debt Is Myopic, Years Late - John M. Berry
Number of Homeless Families Climbing Due To Recession - CBPP
Keep your enemies close - Free exchange ...
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Bernanke Tells It Like It Is, Some Don’t Listen: John M. Berry
bloomberg.com 1/20/2009 — Commentary by John M. Berry Jan. 20 (Bloomberg) -- This may be as close as we’re going to get to a Fed chairman labeling some in Congress as irresponsible. Sure, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke was typically careful with his wording in a Jan. ...
Bankers Don’t Need Politicians Meddling in Loans: John M. Berry
bloomberg.com 12/30/2008 — Commentary by John M. Berry Dec. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Members of Congress are complaining that Federal Reserve and Treasury officials aren’t forcing banks getting money under the Troubled Asset Relief Program to increase lending. The politicians should ...
If Tax-Cut Lapsing Is Class Warfare, Let’s Fight: John M. Berry
bloomberg.com 3/12/2009 — Commentary by John M. Berry March 11 (Bloomberg) -- If letting top income-tax rates go back to where they were in 2000 is class warfare against the rich, I’m ready to snap to attention with my old M1 rifle on my shoulder. What a ridiculous label, ...
Toxic Assets Offer Buy-and-Hold Deal for U.S.: John M. Berry
bloomberg.com 1/27/2009 — Commentary by John M. Berry Jan. 27 (Bloomberg) -- If you want to make some big money, buy a chunk of those toxic mortgage-backed assets dragging down banks. You might harvest a bundle. Money is there to be made because investors, spooked by the ...
"How Large is the Bradley Effect and Does it Matter for Obama?"
economistsview.typepad.com 11/4/2008 — I wish I hadn't read this:
Without the Bradley effect, Obama has an 84% chance of winning... However, the race is a coin flip if the
presidential race will exhibit a Bradley effect of the same size as the average
for the 22 House, Senate and ...
Monster in Closet Is Recession, Not Deflation: John M. Berry
bloomberg.com 11/24/2008 — Commentary by John M. Berry Nov. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Given all the real problems facing the U.S. economy, dragging out the remote danger of deflation is foolish. It's just short of fear-mongering. Yes, this is the worst financial crisis since the Great ...
Friday - The “L” Word
philstockworld.com 2/8/2009 — This week has been dominated by the " L " word .
The Obama administration has been fighting a storm of criticism from the right, keeping a damper on any enthusiasm that may have been garnered pre-passage of a bailout. " Liberal " is once ...
Opinion
bloomberg.com 9/26/2008 — Bailout May Be Granddaddy of All Carry Trades: John M. Berry Commentary by John M. Berry Sept. 26 (Bloomberg) -- There might be a gem in the Treasury's plan to buy $700 billion of dubious mortgage-related assets. Call it the biggest carry trade in ...
First Time as Tragedy, Second Time as Farce
delong.typepad.com 3/4/2009 — John Berry thinks--along with everybody else--that Republicans are following an old playbook: oppose everything a Democratic president does in the hope of convincing voters that he is in some sense a failure, and then ride opposition to him to congressional majorities. Newt Gingrich did this in ...
The Auto Bailout Issue—Posner
becker-posner-blog.com 12/15/2008 — We blogged on November 18 about whether the government should provide money to the U.S. auto manufacturers to keep them alive. (I was for; Becker was against.) In the short period since then, there have been important developments bearing on the ...
Transitional woes: Reality check —
The Economist: Full print edition 1/8/2009
The Democrats are hitting a few speed bumps ON JANUARY 6th Fred Thompson, a former senator and actor, glad-handed his way across the Senate floor. Edward Kennedy, who suffers from a brain tumour, strode up and down its aisles. And the 91-year-old ...