How the head of JP Morgan got bit by the derivatives market and what this says about financial regulation when it comes to taking risks with our pension funds. Krugman - NY Times
Category: Economy
The meaning of authority
Authority dictates that which we socially agree must be accepted as a condition of freedom. We elect those who make the laws that authority is dictated to, if we elect a government that changes those laws then a different set of people may be marginalised. The current financial crisis is an inexcusable threat to progress …
Economic Recovery
A consumer driven economy is a tougher proposition for risk but efforts of the Government is driven by the needs of the consumer in an attempt to build confidence for risk takers they are stripping bits of skin from the hide of nearly everyone by a) providing a corporate tax rate that is perceived as …
Securitisation – do we understand?
When taxpayers paid hundreds of billions to bail out banks, we were never told in reality what we were investing in. The scale of the problem created by securitisation could mean problems for decades if we do not revise basic principals of what is economically efficient and what is fantasy. Would it be correct to …
The Costs of the Banking Bailout
Senator Bernie Sanders blog reveals that secret loans to financial instituions by the US government amount to 16 trillion dollars? Is this real?
American Default?
Legislation of a debt ceiling does not absolve the US from its obligations. UPDATE: The 14th Amendment of the Constitution clearly states that Congress must not default on its obligations. While the USA frantically tried to save the world with a nuclear arsenal they could never use and military overspending on wars that did no …
The Republican End Game
The Republican "end game" would be everything owned by big corporations not necessarily aligned with nations as entities but freely enriching shareholders from anywhere avoiding tax as their earnings are processed where there are no taxes. If these mega corporations are able to employ everyone for a pittance then we are buying into a return …
Competalism
Communism is dead! Capitalism is killing itself, rapidly. We need a better system: maybe Competalism*? The Agora of the Competalists is documented from 250BC: The Competialists were freedmen and slaves of Italian descent who took their name from the annual Roman festival of the Lares Compitales, the gods of the crossroads. The agora that bears …
Economic solutions
Greece and Portugal can sell their gold reserves, the price is very high and that fuels speculation. By putting their gold onto the market gradually, they can keep up with loan repayments. Government spending is necessary during a recession or businesses could change their behaviour. Like paying taxes. Like buying gold reserves and opening offices …
It’s a stupid economy
While the rich executives of bailed out banks get enormously richer they are laying off staff the bank can not afford to keep. The award of ridiculously huge bonuses is justified by a government scared that these talented market manipulators will go and work overseas. The lack of any real wage growth for the broad …