This seems like small potatoes now, but those Bear Stearns and AIG loans made by the Fed aren't doing too well. As of May 6, the Fed is under water by over $8 billion.
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Article link is here - it will not allow me to correct it on the link page. Sorry:-( Here is a clip from the article:
The asset bubble in the United States that has recently burst has wiped out an estimated $13-$14 trillion of net worth between declines in stock and real estate prices. The impact of this value loss is working its way through the economy with dramatic effect.
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This is a summary of some very interesting research on income inequality in the United States from WWI through 2006.
This is a long article but gets to the heart of so much of what has become difficult to follow. Perhaps that is why it's long.
I just finished listening to President Obama's speech regarding the auto industry and I found it refreshing compared to the rhetoric that has been dealt us up to this point.
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The table to the right shows a summary of the payments disclosed by AIG Sunday. For the detailed list you can go here.
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I haven't read anything about the Federal Home Loan Banks since they published their preliminary third quarter results.
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I have been reading about monetarism around the web lately and find the topic interesting. Most of the writings I have seen look to money supply measures as an indicator of whether we should expect inflation and discuss the monetary aggregates, M1 and M2.
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There is interesting discussion on Paul Krugman's NYT blog today regarding monetary expansion and the Great Depression. For the current crisis, I think you need to look at the divergence of M2 and M3.
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GMAC LLC, the big lender co-owned by General Motors Corp.
I have heard commentators (Larry Kudlow) making the argument that the credit markets are working OK because bank loans are up by some pretty high numbers.
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I am posting these charts in response to some debate regarding tax policy here on the Vine. The first chart is Private Fixed Investment, and the data come from here. It shows that Clinton had a better result in fixed investment than Bush after the Bush tax cuts.
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When the subprime credit crisis began to unfold in 2007 I believed it was a sign of deeper problems in the credit markets. Easy money and unchecked leverage puts pressure on banks to lend. First they make the good loans, then the not so good ones, and then they make bad loans.
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What should be done? The United States and Europe should just say "Yes, prime minister." The British plan isn't perfect, but there's widespread agreement among economists that it offers by far the best available template for a broader rescue effort.
Today was one of the most interesting days I have ever witnessed in the markets. I am not a market expert so take all of this with a grain of salt, but it was watching history in the making.
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The Federal Reserve announced today that it will form a special purpose vehicle (the Commercial Paper Funding Facility or CPFF) that will purchase commercial paper in the marketplace from qualified issuers.
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The Federal Reserve is going nuclear. The TAF is doubling to $900 billion, interest will be paid on reserves beginning October 9, and the rules prohibiting commercial banks from purchasing assets from affiliated money market mutual funds is being relaxed.
I really like this idea at first blush. I'm not sure if it could be implemented fast enough, but I think the idea deserves consideration as we proceed with whatever plan comes out of Congress.
I have been working on a way to conceptualize where our economy is and how we got here.
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Now that it appears Congress will pass the bailout plan the next logical question is "what's next?" I don't know the answer, but I have my concerns.
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OK, the headline is completely fictional, I think.
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This will be very interesting - a direct and intentional challenge to the IRS from preachers expressing their political views to their congregations.
class action lawsuit filed against Google in Texas over "policy of allowing anyone to buy someone else's trademark as a trigger for an ad."
The inclusion of as much as $36.5 billion in stimulus spending to electronic health records fulfilled President Obama's promise of reform, but it was also a triumph for an influential trade group.
The former Bush administration official in charge of the federal agency that guarantees pensions for 44 million Americans is under investigation for inappropriate contacts with Wall Street firms seeking to obtain lucrative contracts to manage part of the agency's portfolio.
Camille Pagila writes today about the bile and deranged hate-mongering routinely spewed by right-wing talk radio.
The Obama administration's behavior in the Chrysler bankruptcy is a profound challenge to the rule of law.
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Expenses have caught MPs with their pants down
Expenses have caught MPs with their pants down
Why has the Right collapsed?
Why has the Right collapsed?
Why has the Right collapsed?
Why has the Right collapsed?
Why has the Right collapsed?
The machinery behind health-care reform
The machinery behind health-care reform
The machinery behind health-care reform