Monthly Archives: November 2010

UPDATE at end. Wow. Stopforeclosurefraud finds testimony from New Jersey bankruptcy court case indicating that Countrywide was not passing along notes as part of the securitization process: The new allonge was signed by Sharon Mason, Vice President of Countrywide Home Loans, Inc., … Continue reading →

Lots of exciting stuff around this post from Michael Mandel post, The Age of Regulation Started Ten Years Ago, including comments from Ezra Klein and Tim Fernholz. This is from a paper he wrote for the Progressive Policy Institute, Reviving … Continue reading →

There’s currently a shadow bailout of Wall Street coming down the road, a complete steal for the low, low price of $30 million dollars. (Remember “millions”?  In the context of shadow bailing out Wall Street, where you need to ante … Continue reading →

After three years, The Washington Independent is closing down. That’s a real loss. The Washington Independent has been doing high quality journalism on the topics I cover at this blog, from consumer finance to financial reform to unemployment and beyond. … Continue reading →

I realized I had very little understanding on where the conservative economic mind was these days. In the spirit of “If you want to know what a conservative economist who opposes the Obama administration thinks, ask one”, shortly after the … Continue reading →

Unemployment is projected to be very high, and inflation low, for the foreseeable future.  And we just had a wave election in which Republicans were elected in large numbers running on a thin-to-none economic platform. I realized I had very … Continue reading →

Ryan Avent and Karl Smith respond to Felix Salmon’s argument that QEII (and zero interest rates generally) are creating bubbles.  Important stuff, well argued. I don’t even know where to start with this story about James Frey’s fiction factory. Aaron … Continue reading →

When everyday economists sit and think about people who are unemployed, what they model is the idea that someone calls you everyday and offers you a job with a random salary, and whether or not you accept that offer depends … Continue reading →

Great speech by John C. Williams, Executive Vice President and Director of Research, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, Presentation to the Seattle Community Development Roundtable. I’d recommend reading all of it, but there’s a section on inflation and QEII … Continue reading →

Remember that time President Obama reappointed the conservative Republican Ben Bernanke to the Federal Reserve? What percent of his motivation came from the idea that this was a move towards bi-partisan cooperation? Like a political chess grandmaster, Obama must have … Continue reading →