COUNTERPRODUCTIVE DOESN’T BEGIN TO DESCRIBE WHAT THE FED IS UP TO
Andy Kessler has had it up to here with the Fed’s zero-interest-rate policy: ZIRP is the problem, not the solution. Money is not stupid. Corporations are…
CALL IT THE MIRACLE OF COMPOUND INTEREST IN REVERSE
I’m not sure I follow Bruce Bartlett’s logic when he says that the G.A.O’s forecast of Medicare spending rising to 5.9% of GDP in 2040, compared…
SURPRISE! ONE MORE INSOLVENT GOVERNMENT HOUSING AGENCY FOR TAXPAYERS TO BAIL OUT
At The Atlantic, Edward J. Pinto points out the open secret that the FHA is all set to go the way of Fannie and Freddie: The…
WHOSE BRIGHT IDEA WAS IT TO ALLOW SPOOKS TO SIGN UP FOR GMAIL?
Regarding the Petraeus affair, I only have one question: how is it that David Petraeus-or any employee of the CIA, for that matter–is even allowed to…
AZ AND CAL HOUSING MARKETS ALMOST BACK TO THEIR OLD SELVES
In two of the four states hit hardest by the housing bust, things aren’t looking quite so bleak anymore: Fueled by major improvements in California and…
A GOLDEN PARACHUTE THIS IS NOT
If Vikram Pandit’s experience is anything to go by, firing CEOs isn’t nearly as expensive as it used to be: “Based on the progress this year…
AND YET NO MENTION OF VINEYARD VINES NECKWEAR, FOR SOME REASON
Bloomberg assignment for the day: Go out and make a bunch of young Republican Wall Streeters look like effete nitwits. Max Abelson is on the case:…
ANOTHER DUMB IDEA FROM SHEILA BAIR
Sheila Bair says one way to force Congress to do a better job tackling the nation’s problems would be to pay Congressmen in Treasury debt: For…
OH THOSE SAVVY, SAVVY SCOTS
Scottish money managers like U.S. regional banks: “The regional banks are more leveraged to benefit from an improving economic recovery than the larger banks,” James Kinghorn,…
REMINDER: MEGA-BANK BREAKUP STILL WON’T FIX NUTHIN’
Peter Wallison explains why breaking up the big banks, bank critics’ go-to solution to too-big-too-fail, makes no sense: [Breaking up the mega-banks] does not pass a…