Monthly Archives: June 2010

David Harvey has been doing a lecture tour for his Marxist critique of both the financial crisis and the narratives told about it. I hadn’t heard the lecture, but just now, I got to see it animated. From the New … Continue reading →

1) Bankruptcy law expert Adam Levitin gives the Protecting Gun Owners in Bankruptcy Act of 2010 a critical examination. The internet delivers. 2) Ed on Rent-a-Center v. Jackson. I love his intro to the case that could serve as a … Continue reading →

Wow, this switch between the bank tax and putting the burden on taxpayers is even more cynical than I thought. Daniel Indiviglio has this: Initially, they sought to impose a $19 billion tax on big banks and hedge funds. Now, … Continue reading →

Don’t let Goldman and Bank of America repossess all the guns! At his brand new blog (which you should be checking out) Adam Serwer discusses McDonald v. Chicago and concludes “The gun wars are pretty much over, and the gun … Continue reading →

I want to emphasize Felix’s point here. If the $20bn bank fee is replaced by a FDIC increase, that impacts a broader community of people rather than the specific risky agents we want to assess: It would be a fiasco … Continue reading →

New Deal 2.0 has been running some excellent Social Security commentary over the past couple weeks. They ran a series of articles under the heading Social Security Fiscal Fitness which included contributions by Robert Kuttner: The Stealth Attack on America’s … Continue reading →

It looks like Scott Brown for certain, and possibly Collins and Snowe, are worried about a $20 billion dollar fee that the financial reform bill would add, and are now going to not vote for the bill. First off, as … Continue reading →

Insider-y post. Everyone has already rightfully beaten up Kartik Athreya’s essay where he is mad that bloggers are willing to discuss economics in the public sphere without having an economics PhD. I’d note Scott Sumner, Yglesias, and Mark Thoma. I’m … Continue reading →

From the Wall Street Journal, Study: Nearly One in Five Mortgage Defaults Are ‘Strategic.’ That’s a fairly high number! What do they mean by a strategic defaulter? A new report estimates that nearly one in five mortgage defaults through the … Continue reading →

Nick Rowe writes US fixed rate mortgages aren’t fixed rate mortgages; they are weird, stupid, and dangerous. It’s a good discussion, especially in the comments. For the bond nerds in the audience, Nick thinks they are stupid because they are … Continue reading →