In perhaps the most unsurprising news since Tiger's decision to return for the Masters, Lenny Dykstra losing all of his money to late night infomercia...
We all know how much the media love conflict, and they have fallen in love with the health care debate. To say the process hasn't been pretty would be one of the biggest Washington understatements in years.
After a two day blogging slugfest on fiscal deficits, the question of hyperinflation now demands an answer. Here it is: fiscal deficit spending may be a necessary condition of hyperinflation, but it is hardly a sufficient condition.
Herewith, a brief list of the qualities that enabled the guys in The Big Short to foresee the coming financial calamity -- and that can help the rest of us get stuff right, too.
The economic contagion in Latvia will be transmitted as both financial and economic contagion to the wealthier western countries that have large economic claims on Latvia and do trade with them.
Presidents either earn the respect of people through merit or they wrangle support through sympathy. In the health care debate, it's the latter not the former for Pres. Obama.
The Tea Party movement has emerged as a "party" of platitudes rather than of policies, a group united by fury rather than a unifying philosophy. So how should Liberals communicate with them?
What Senator Chris Dodd has put on the table will barely scratch the surface, given the changes that are needed to build a regulatory system that actually works.
The GI Bill's free tuition program was a key factor in building our post-WWII prosperity. If we want our nation to grow smarter and stronger again, we need universal free higher education right now.
Now that the banks have been stabilized (to some degree) as a result of massive public intervention, the very individuals who have nearly destroyed the country are ready to dance again.
As women and as taxpayers, we are writing to tell Senator Dodd that size matters. As he gets ready to take up bank reform in committee next week, we need to talk.
Both the SEC and the NY Fed were monitoring Lehman on a day-to-day basis shortly after Bear's failure. They recognized that it had a massive hole in its balance sheet, yet took an inertial course of action.
Wall Streeters who get millions in bonuses to know better are still trading in derivatives. Nothing is preventing another financial collapse, when Wall Street will come crying to Washington for a new $700 billion
At a time when our political and financial landscapes are littered with villains and those unwilling to take them on, it's refreshing to find someone in the halls of power that we can unabashedly celebrate. Enter Sen. Ted Kaufman of Delaware, who I met with today at the Capitol. Kaufman, Joe Biden's longtime chief of staff who was appointed to serve out his old boss's term, was originally thought to be a Senate placeholder. But, far from biding his time, Kaufman has emerged as one of the Senate's fiercest critics of Wall Street and a champion of the need to push for a serious rebooting of our financial system. He is also a shining example of what can happen if we remove money as a factor in our leaders' decision making.
You could argue that The Big Short is about a lot of different things. But I read it as a story about the social, personal, and intellectual conditions that can produce dazzling rightness or staggering wrongness.
As long as government continues to hog most of the available credit, it's going to be increasingly difficult--and sometimes nearly impossible--for most businesses and consumers to get their share of much needed funds.
Our entire economy almost collapsed a year-and-a-half ago because there were no referees on Wall Street. And sadly, hardworking, honest taxpayers paid the price. Our bill will prevent that from happening again.
Is Ernst & Young going to fail like Arthur Andersen?
If our political leaders won't make room for the "strangers" among us, we, the people of faith, will. It's time to stop playing politics with people's lives.
Health care reform may come any day now. But increasing demand in the health care industry without finding a cure for our health care workforce shortage could have unintended consequences.
