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Caveat Emptor

  • So why do you want intrusive government?

    When you look at this administration's major actions, it is difficult to find one that is targeted at the problem it alleges to address. TARP was supposed to buy the underwater assets of banks but has instead turned out to be a gigantic slush fund. Cap and trade was intended [...]
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    Posted: December 09, 2009, 10:19am EST

  • Vindication?

    I am not a climate scientist. However, I do know models since that is what I do for a living. In my profession, models are proffered and explored and criticized. I know of no "settled science". Constantly, we read of the consensus of economists predicting what inevitably turns out to [...]
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    Posted: December 04, 2009, 8:31am EST

  • Spread the wealth?

    Remember when Joe Biden said that we needed to "spread the wealth?" My reaction was don't we do enough of that already with over $4 trillion going into poverty programs since LBJ? What Biden and his ilk actually mean is that they want to further confiscate more of the wealth' [...]
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    Posted: December 03, 2009, 2:15pm EST

  • Still believe in global "warming"? Redux

    

    

    REVIEW & OUTLOOK
    Wall Street Journal
    NOVEMBER 27, 2009, 7:02 P.M. ET
    Rigging a Climate 'Consensus'
    About those emails and 'peer review.'

    The climatologists at the center of the leaked email and document scandal have taken the line that it is all much [...]
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    Posted: December 01, 2009, 10:14am EST

  • Obama isn't the only one who has lost his way

    In an article in the Financial Times (www.ft.com/cms/s/0/15c18868-ce2f-11de-a1ea-00144feabdc0.html), economist Jeffrey Sachs of Columbia University says that "Obama has lost his way on jobs". Sachs states that the Obama solution is a Keynesian approach which focuses on consumer spending. He notes that consumer and investment demands are too low for full [...]
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    Posted: November 30, 2009, 11:39am EST

  • So what was left out?

    Washington Wire
    Political Insight and Analysis From The Wall Street Journal's Capital Bureau

    President Barack Obama on Wednesday described his proposals as a “sweeping overhaul of the financial regulatory system” on a scale not seen since the Great Depression. The official White House document, titled “A New Foundation: Rebuilding [...]
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    Posted: November 23, 2009, 9:21pm EST

  • Economists have it all wrong

    From the Knoxville News-Sentinel November 1, 2009


    I read somewhere that 80 percent of economists polled said the recession was over. Experience tells us that if 80 percent of economists agree on something, then they are wrong. Remember when these same economists said that the passage of the [...]
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    Posted: November 02, 2009, 6:52pm EST

  • What in the world is the Fed doing?

    Coupled with the pay czar Ken Feinberg's capping executive pay at TARP banks at $500,000 the Fed has weighed in with its own pay plans. The Fed says that it is within its rule-making authority to review and regulate pay packages that threaten the solvency of those it regulates. Although' [...]
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    Posted: November 02, 2009, 6:33pm EST

  • Professor Bashing 101

    One of the favorite mantras of talk radio is the influence of left wing university professors on the youth of America. Don't believe it. I am in my 40th year of university teaching. What I have found teaching at big public institutions in the south and small liberal colleges in' [...]
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    Posted: October 15, 2009, 8:53am EDT

  • Health Care Redux

    The Senate Finance Committee just passed the outline of a health care bill. The 200 page outline is not a bill as has been reported in the press but will be cobbled together with the bill out of the Dodd committee to get a "final" bill that will go to [...]
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    Posted: October 14, 2009, 6:42pm EDT

  • Are we safe now?

    Barack Obama being awarded the Nobel peace prize is akin to my giving my students A's before they have passed an exam. I stopped taking the Nobel prize seriously when it was awarded to Arafat and Carter. Giving it to Al Gore only provided confirmation that it was a political' [...]
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    Posted: October 09, 2009, 4:17pm EDT

  • In Defense of Capitalism

    A couple of weeks ago I was asked to go on a local talk radio show to defend capitalism. It seems that with Michael Moore's movie and all the charges of reckless greed on Wall Street, capitalism is under attack. However, citing Bernie Madoff and the collapse in the financial' [...]
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    Posted: October 08, 2009, 10:43pm EDT

  • Happy Anniversary

    October 3 is the first anniversary of TARP - the Troubled Asset Relief Program. You recall that the original intent of the bill was to purchase troubled assets from financial institutions to restore confidence in the credit markets. I had written when the act was proposed that it was doomed [...]
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    Posted: September 22, 2009, 4:41pm EDT

  • More Random Thoughts

    The president in his speech to Wall Street on September 15 said that the days of "reckless behavior and unchecked excess at the heart of this crisis" are over. Au contraire, it is continuing. Only this time it is the government that is engaging in reckless behavior and unchecked excess. [...]
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    Posted: September 16, 2009, 11:05am EDT

  • Health Care Overhaul Not Needed

    This article appeared in the Knoxville News-Sentinel on September 6, 2009.



    The nation is engaged in a spirited debate on health care, and it is wonderful to see democracy in full voice. Is there justification for a government takeover of health care?

    First, is the debate [...]
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    Posted: September 07, 2009, 3:46pm EDT

  • Is this the change we were promised?

    Remember the old saying "If you can keep your head while all those around you have lost theirs - then you probably have misinterpreted the situation?" Well thats how I feel about this administration and its actions. The president as a candidate constantly berated the Bush administration for running up [...]
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    Posted: August 31, 2009, 7:29pm EDT

  • Congratulations Ben!

    Ben Bernanke has been nominated by the President for a second term as Fed chairman. Congratulations Ben! You earned it having provided the most accommodating monetary policy for the administration since oh Alan Greenspan. Since you were a governor at Greenspan's Fed, your reward from the Bush administration was being' [...]
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    Posted: August 31, 2009, 6:45pm EDT

  • So Where are Willie and LaToya?

    Remember when people wonder why hurricanes were only named after women? Obviously, if they were named after men they would have to be called himacanes. Well the esteemed congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee now famous for chatting on her cell phone during a recent town hall also is notable for two [...]
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    Posted: August 18, 2009, 8:58am EDT

  • Audit the Fed?

    I have made little secret the fact that I do not care for the Bernanke Fed. Although it appears that Bernanke is campaigning for re-appointment, his actions are consistent with those his predecessor used while President Bush was in office. Recall that government spending exploded under George Bush. Even though [...]
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    Posted: August 18, 2009, 8:31am EDT

  • Read my lips?

    The President is fast becoming the poster child for "How can you tell a politician is lying?" In his speech July 20, 2009 on health care I was wondering what country he was talking about. It was certainly no country with which I was familiar. Here is a sampling of [...]
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    Posted: July 20, 2009, 10:24pm EDT

  • Still "believe" in global warming?

    In addition to the EPA burying a report questioning the relationship between CO2 and the earth's temperatures come the following conference on climate change ignored by the main stream press.

    http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=83323

    HEAT OF THE MOMENT
    Scientists abandon global warming 'lie'
    650 to dissent at U.N. climate change conference[...]
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    Posted: July 15, 2009, 10:28am EDT

  • Move the Fed!

    The Federal Reserve is a curious creation. In an effort to keep it insulated from the political whims of the president and the congress, it was made as independent as a central bank can be - with one exception. Its seven governors serve 14 year terms and once appointed by [...]
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    Posted: July 06, 2009, 9:24am EDT

  • Ever Wonder Why Regulations Don't Work?

    Proposals don't fix reason for crisis

    By Dr. Harold Black

    Knoxville News- Sentinel
    Sunday, July 5, 2009


    Politicians, like generals, fight the last war. A clear case in point is the proposed legislation on financial institutions.

    The main parts are that the FDIC would be able' [...]

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    Posted: July 06, 2009, 9:22am EDT

  • I'm Kickin in my Red Prius?

    Our musical heritage is full of songs depicting the American love for the automobile. I have listed a few below in no particular order although I am really fond of Maybelinne, Pink Cadillac, Freeway of Love and especially Mustang Sally. So I am wondering will the truly awful looking teeny [...]
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    Posted: June 12, 2009, 9:48am EDT

  • Is Justice Blind?

    Supreme Court nominee's Sonia Sotomayor comments regarding a wise Latina judge based on her life experiences could make better decisions than a white male judge elicited cries of racism from her detractors. It also elicited comments about how "justice is blind" and should be practiced without regard to demographics of' [...]
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    Posted: June 10, 2009, 10:38am EDT

  • Some More Random Thoughts

    1. Part of the criticisms of Chrysler and GM is that they have "too many dealers" and bankruptcy allows them to shed those dealers without additional compensation (when GM dropped the Oldsmobile brand they paid the dealers over $1 billion). I simply do not understand this argument. Since the dealers [...]
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    Posted: June 03, 2009, 8:21am EDT

  • On Cap and Trade

    The following appeared in the Knoxville News-Sentinel on May 3, 2009

    In December 2007, I wrote about the economic consequences of enacting the Kyoto Accords on carbon emissions. Briefly, there was a rise in unemployment, a fall in GDP, a rise in utility bills and gasoline costs. These results [...]
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    Posted: June 03, 2009, 8:20am EDT

  • What would Adam Smith do?

    My sophomore year I read Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations and have never been the same since. It remains #1 on the list of my favorite books. I wondered what would Adam Smith say with regard to the growing slice of the economic pie spent by the government on social' [...]
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    Posted: May 29, 2009, 2:00pm EDT

  • Go on with your bad self Montana

    This is from the Motley Fool's blog.http://caps.fool.com/blogs/viewpost.aspx?bpid=191675&t=01007820309211448063

    (Personal note: the Interstate Commerce clause was the justification for outlawing segregation in public facilities in the south - so I have mixed feelings about its use.)
    I HEART Montana!

    Recs

    14FollowShareReport

    MAY 08, 2009 – COMMENTS (7) | RELATED TICKERS: MON , TAN , [...]

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    Posted: May 08, 2009, 4:10pm EDT

  • Someday I believe a change is going to come

    It seems that our politicians and their followers always forget the admonition on Santayana that "those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." This is never more evident from our forgetting that the greatness of America lies in its willingness to benefit from failure. Imagine an industry [...]
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    Posted: May 08, 2009, 3:38pm EDT

  • More Random Thoughts

    1. Its interesting that in my News-Sentinel articles, the most comments are generated by articles on global warming or on the flat tax. First, the left attacks me regarding expressing skepticism over global warming. I tell them as I tell my students that "I have no dog in this hunt". [...]
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    Posted: May 06, 2009, 9:53am EDT

  • Watch out! There is Cap and Trade in Your Future

    I am amused by the Exxon/Mobil commercial where we are told that the company uses new technology to drill efficiently and lowers costs to consumers. The commercial also goes on to state that we need energy from all sources. I am also amused by the coal commercial touting clean coal. [...]
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    Posted: April 28, 2009, 9:24am EDT

  • How did I get this out of touch?

    This morning looking at the news and then driving in listening to the radio I realized that I was completely ignorant of much that had been discussed. I did not recognize any of the the winners of the Country Music Awards. To be perfectly honest I never realize that any [...]
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    Posted: April 08, 2009, 7:53pm EDT

  • Independent No Longer?

    When the Fed was created as an independent agency, the intent was to insulate it as much as possible from being a pawn of either the congress or the executive. Fed independence was assured because after being appointed by the president and confirmed by the senate, Fed governors cannot be [...]
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    Posted: March 28, 2009, 2:52pm EDT

  • Why I am no socialist

    It has often been said that socialism fails everywhere but in the minds of academics and liberals. Oh contraire. In yesterday's lecture to my financial markets class on interest rates, I cited Sen. Durbin's bill to impose a national usury ceiling of 36 percent on consumer lending as a classic [...]
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    Posted: March 24, 2009, 9:47am EDT

  • Welcome to the Third World

    Correct me if I am wrong, but I thought that monetizing the national debt was confined to third world banana republics. In those countries, governments are hard pressed to sell their debt offerings because of either of the threat of default or because the value of the offerings is constantly [...]
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    Posted: March 23, 2009, 12:57pm EDT

  • Why Do Democrats Hate Black Kids?

    Pardon me for getting personal but this has been a distressful week. Barack Obama gave what I thought was a very brave speech before the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. He broke ranks with the Democrats and the teachers' unions by advocating merit pay for teachers. Then the very next day,' [...]
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    Posted: March 12, 2009, 11:35am EDT

  • Are CRA, Clinton and Carter Really to Blame?

    I am fed up with the conservative talk show hosts putting the blame of the current economic crisis on the Community Reinvestment Act. I’ve heard them say that the CRA was signed into law by Jimmy Carter and aggressively expanded under Bill Clinton forcing banks to make loans to people [...]
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    Posted: February 20, 2009, 10:59pm EST

  • Forgettable and/or Lamentable?

    When the Federal Reserve was restructured in its present form, the first true chairman of the Fed was Mariner Eccles. In his footsteps came Thomas McCabe, William McChesney Martin, Arthur F. Burns, G. William Miller, Paul Volcker, Alan Greenspan and now Ben Bernanke. What is striking is the stature of [...]
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    Posted: February 20, 2009, 12:53pm EST

  • John Taylor on the Origins of the Financial Crisis

    John Taylor's commentary in the Wall Street Journal on the origins of the financial crisis neatly encapsulates a good many of my News-Sentinel articles and posts on this blog. I couldn't agree more so here it is for those who might have missed it.

          0.            OPINION

         .                FEBRUARY 9, 2009

    How [...]

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    Posted: February 10, 2009, 11:14am EST

  • Some Random Thoughts

    1. Find the cost per pupil in the public schools in a state and compare it with that of private schools. If equal or larger then simply give each family a voucher equal to that amount so they can send their kids to the private school.

     

    2. What most Americans want [...]

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    Posted: February 01, 2009, 2:52pm EST

  • The Stimulus Hoax

    I have written before in this space that government stimulus packages have failed to work in the past. The reaction of consumers has been to reduce debt rather than to engage in new spending. But no matter. As politicians are wont to do, their reaction is that what is needed [...]
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    Posted: January 26, 2009, 2:31pm EST

  • The Coming Really Big Tax Increase

    I have written before that the government generally spends a little less than 20 percent of GDP and if left unchecked Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security will take 20 percent of GDP all by themselves by 2050. Recently, government spending has exploded with all the bailouts, the assumption of Freddie [...]
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    Posted: January 16, 2009, 4:41pm EST

  • Obama Creates Jobs!

    This article first appeared in the Knoxville News- Sentinel on January 4, 2009.
    Happy New Year. I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that the 110th Congress is gone. The bad news is that the 111th Congress will be worse. More good news is that the [...]
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    Posted: January 06, 2009, 6:33pm EST

  • So Uncle Sam, Is it OK to Reject this Loan?

    The recent brouhaha over Bank of America’s denial of a line of credit is a precursor of things to come. Late last year B of A, refused to extend a line of credit to the Republic Windows and Doors company of Chicago. Immediately there were howls of protests. Now disgraced [...]

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    Posted: December 28, 2008, 5:16am EST

  • Dream Cabinet

    Lets have some fun. Obama has named his cabinet so I decided to announce mine. Mine is diverse and probably unique since all those named have some expertise in their fields. John Bolton would be great at State as would Sarah Palin at Interior and Schwartzkopt at Defense. My Tennessee [...]
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    Posted: December 21, 2008, 6:55pm EST

  • Where is the Beef?

    All the auto executives should be fired by their boards of directors. Given the opportunity to present their case to the American people why their companies are failing, they instead were seen begging before the Congress. It is ironic that the day of their begging for a handout, Honda was [...]
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    Posted: December 12, 2008, 5:38am EST

  • I Told You So (Part 2)

    In the Knoxville News-Sentinel on December 2, 2007 I had the temerity to question global warming (that article is posted below as an "older post"). It evoked a firestorm of criticism. The one that I remember best said that I might be right but the world could not take the [...]
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    Posted: December 09, 2008, 3:28pm EST

  • Economic Stimulus

    I really hate to say "I told you so" but I told you so. My March 2008 article in the Knoxville News-Sentinel stated that the then proposed economic stimulus package proposed by President Bush would have little impact on the economy. True to their type, the politicians led by President-elect [...]
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    Posted: December 08, 2008, 9:43am EST

  • Is GM too Big to Let Fail?

     


    (Let me say at the outset I am truly sorry for those who have lost their jobs or are facing the possibility of a job loss, whether at GM or any other firm. I have been there, as have most people at one time or another.)
    [...]

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    Posted: November 19, 2008, 11:42am EST

  • Rules could lead to more risk

    This article originally appeared in the Knoxville News-Sentinel on Sunday, November 2, 2008

    Having had to manage the federal agency overseeing credit unions during the last period of financial stress for depository institutions, I have an appreciation for the pressures faced by today's federal regulators. Nevertheless, I am struck by [...]

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    Posted: November 05, 2008, 11:21am EST

  • 100 Percent Reserves?


    Irving Fisher, 1927    Irving Fisher

    Today in class I told my students that one way to restore consumer confidence in the banking system was to have the Fed stop injecting liquidity into the system. This is because ultimately it was counterproductive because such actions would [...]
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    Posted: October 28, 2008, 7:14pm EDT
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