Living La Vida Nada

From the Federal Open Market Committee’s (FOMC) policy statement earlier today:
Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in January indicates that the economy continues to contract.  Job losses, declining equity and housing wealth, and tight credit conditions have weighed on consumer sentiment and spending.  Weaker sales prospects and difficulties in obtaining credit have [...]

The Chicago School v. The Rest of Us

There’s a very big debate between economists that’s beginning to spill on to the pages of major newspapers.  Suddenly, people that I usually only read in scholarly articles are attending conferences where they give papers in what passes off more as the lessons of theory and empirical evidence instead of the theory and evidence itself. [...]

Yesterday, Teabagging, Today Sandbagging

I can’t tell you how disappointed I am that America’s first woman Speaker of the House has turned into a player for all seasons.  First, we find out exactly how much she knew about the torture methods of the Bush Administration and when she knew about it.  Then she tells a big lie about it.  [...]

Looking for the Copper Lining

I’ve been earning my creds as a dismal scientist lately.  However, it’s spring, it’s sunny here in the Big Easy where Jazz Fest season is rocking on and I’d just like to share an example of an administration somewhere in the world that’s done the right thing.   I’d like to introduce you to a dismal [...]

James K. Galbraith and the Sorceror’s Stone

Forecasts of economic activity are always a mixture of alchemy and bias.  You always have to check the assumptions before you evaluate the output.  Assumptions can turn a model up side down or inside out.  Economist James K. Galbraith gave a speech this month at the Minsky Conference.  His speech included terse evaluations of some [...]

W(h)ither Geithner and his TALF

Neil Irwin of WAPO reported today that the TALF is not having the results trumpeted by the Obama administration. This is leading, again, to speculation about the relevancy of most of these plans and, of course, job security of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.
In its first two months, the government’s signature initiative to support consumer lending [...]

Irrational numbers

I’ve sat in two doctoral level investment classes for my degree. It’s not one of my fields because I just don’t want to take the derivatives seminar.  I actually have a lot of disdain for the field now that I’ve done the proofs on the major models.  My ex husband worked 20 years for an [...]

And the rich just keep getting richer …

This graph from the Congressional Budget Center for Budget and Policy Priorities shows the most recent date on U.S. Income Inequality. This includes new data from 2006. This is pretty astounding. It shows just exactly how much of the country’s income has gone to the richest and poorest Americans and of course [...]

PUMA forward

You think it’s too late to plan some kind of commemorative/commiserative event for the 5.31 rules committee meeting that led to the birth of PUMA? Maybe make it net/blog based? Any interest?

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Bernanke Rules

Is The Fed under Chairman Ben Bernanke  finally beginning to adopt the tougher lending regulations and rules that would’ve prevented much of the havoc of the last two years?  In a speech on April 17, Bernanke stated that damage done to the economy was not likely to be undone any time soon.  This gives more [...]