I just can’t see the Fed and the Treasury sitting idly by while Lehman starts to go into default. The argument for inaction would be that they don’t want to create incentives for risky behavior in the future, and certainly (if it comes [...]
Q. Who, really, is going to come up with the $700 billion?
A. American taxpayers will come up with the money, although if you are bullish [...]
At one point during the day, investors were willing to pay more for one-month Treasurys than they could expect to get back when the bonds matured....That’s never happened before.Actually it has happened before, not in the easily available data, but [...]
I never once considered that it was appropriate [...]
Obama is flat-out wrong when he frets on his campaign Web site that "the personal savings rate is now the lowest it's been since the Great Depression." The latest rate, for the second quarter of 2008, is 2.6 percent -- higher than the [...]
I’ve spent the past week being pissed off at all the people who were pissed off about the so-called “bailout” of Bear Stearns. In the light of this morning’s [...]
The financial crisis currently under way is basically an updated version of the wave of bank runs that swept the nation three generations ago. People aren’t [...]
...Japan had plenty of missed opportunities in the early to mid 90s to prevent the depression from getting out of hand. It was only when the inflation rate went to zero...that it really became intractable.Speak of the devil, and [...]
Have you ever turned down a money-making opportunity that you would have accepted if it paid twice as much?I'll outsource the first part of the answer to "a student of economics," who comments on [...]
Where we differ is the point at which monetary policy loses its effectiveness - I think that happens way before i-rates hit zero.It’s an interesting point, because it is a position that many economists (including Keynes himself) seem [...]
What is "savings"? I understanding taking the check over to Walmart.
If [...]
Im not a protectionist. For the sake of the world as a whole, I hope that we respond to the trouble with trade not by shutting trade down, but by doing things like strengthening the social safety net. But those [...]
`It's only once a year, sir,' pleaded Bob, appearing from the Tank. `It shall not be repeated. I was making rather merry yesterday, sir.'
`Now, I'll tell you what, my friend,' said Scrooge,' I am not going to stand this sort of thing any longer. And therefore,' he continued, [...]
Another question: Why are you so upset about this particular form of [...]
- Isn't it better to have a cheap currency? You get to export more and bring in more money. A cheap currency hurts if you travel outside the country, but on the other hand, you have [...]
If I were a currency trader, 