An article by Edward Harrison originally posted at Credit Writedowns.

I am 100% sure that the U.S. will go into hyperinflation. Not tomorrow, but the problem with the government debt growing so much is that when the time will come and the Fed should increase interest rates, they'll...

William White, the former chief economist at the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) gave an important speech at George Soros' Inaugural Institute of New Economic Thinking (INET) conference in Cambridge.  While everyone is casting about for the one magic bullet solution which would have prevented this and future crises,...

Earlier today, I had a brief e-mail exchange in which I said that I had basically thrown in the towel on US (and global) policy makers. Early on in this crisis, I had advocated a number of policy paths which I think would have been infinitely superior to the ones...

This article originally appeared on my site Credit Writedowns

As we approach the new year, I have decided to write a few thematic posts as a look back at some of the more important economic topics that this credit crisis has uncovered. The thinking is that tying posts together...

This article originally appeared on my site Credit Writedowns

Matt Taibbi is one of the few commentators in the mainstream media who is not worried about 'access' and has, therefore, been free to write much more critically about the economic crisis and reform efforts on Wall Street.

His...

This article originally appeared on my site Credit Writedowns

That is the question Newsweek asked of the Democratic Congressman from Massachusetts in charge of banking reform efforts in the U.S. House of Representatives in an interview.  Rather than answer the question fairly, Frank attacked the reporter and eventually ended...

This article originally appeared on my site Credit Writedowns

Below are three videos from a talk at the 2009 Economics of Peace Conference in Sonoma, CA, where James Galbraith talks about the Hyman Minsky concept of the instability of stability. This concept is fundamental to the behavioural psychology behind...

This article originally appeared on my site Credit Writedowns. Note: Since this post was published, three more banks in Georgia have failed. Read details here.

Recently, I have been writing a lot about regional banks and the capital problems they have been having. This is having a direct...

This article originally appeared on my site Credit Writedowns

In the past few weeks I have been alarmed about the growing debate about deficits and taxes, so much so that I have moved to a double dip baseline from one of a multi-year recovery.  I find it in...

This article originally appeared on my site Credit Writedowns

When I read Yves Smith's recent comments on Bank of America's repayment of its TARP funds, I couldn't help but think of a post I wrote six months ago called "Asymmetric information and corporate governance in bank bailouts." The gist...

This article originally appeared on my site Credit Writedowns

As I indicated earlier today, I generally see protectionism not as a second-best argument like Paul Krugman, but as something to avoid entirely.  Nevertheless, calls for more protectionism are being heard everywhere.  Gregory Clark, an Australian Professor who...

This article originally appeared on my site Credit Writedowns.

AmTrust Financial, a privately held regional bank holding company based in Cleveland, has just filed for bankruptcy. With well over $10 billion in assets, AmTrust Bank is fairly large. The circumstances surrounding its failure are unusual in that the Bank...

This article originally appeared on my site Credit Writedowns

"This is definitely a threat on the horizon," said Blaise Ganguin, the agency's European credit chief.

Some 75 companies large enough to be rated face likely default in 2010 as the slow-burn effects of the crisis hit...

The most recent Gallup Poll on what Americans think is the best way to create jobs is a bit disheartening because it flies in the face of basic economics. Protectionism is the number one way Americans believe more jobs can be created.  This was true for Republicans, Independents and Democrats....

This post first appeared at my site Credit Writedowns

Given the spate of articles in the business press about this country or that country facing a potential debt crisis, I wanted to write a bit about sovereign debt crises.

In my view, economic stimulus has been...

Below is a post I wrote on my site Credit Writedowns exactly two months ago. My impetus in writing the post was a need to reconcile my near-term optimism with my longer-term worry. So, I tried to pull some threads together to create a cohesive model of what to...

Willem Buiter has just taken on a new role at Citigroup. The news of Willem Buiter's role as Chief Economist at Citigroup comes via DealBook at the New York Times below. Afterward, I have some comments about Dubai contextualizing reluctance by the government to backstop Dubai World -...

Two weeks ago as the Financial Reform Bill was wending its way through Congress, Paul Kanjorski emerged as the champion of breaking up too-big-to-fail financial institutions.  After seeing trillions of dollars in taxpayer money go to backstopping, propping up and guaranteeing the liabilities of weak financial institutions, It looked like...

This post originally appeared at Credit Writedowns.

In this post:

Where we are headed

In a recent...