October 29
Thursday, 10/29/2009 - 9:23 am by Jason Selfe | One Comment
“What you need to know to navigate today’s economic debate.”
U.S. Economy Started to Grow Again in the Third Quarter (NYT)
The government reported that output of goods and services grew at a 3.5 percent annual rate, which was faster than expected, but it will be months before job-seekers feel the benefits.
GMAC Shows Limits of Resolution, Systemic Risk Proposal (Newsweek)
The question isn’t just whether the government is vigilant enough, or has the right tools at hand, but also whether it will have the political will to use them
Ongoing Agony of the Banks (NYT)
If the federal government’s strategy to save the banks was meant to get them back into the business of lending, it has not worked yet.
Congress Weighs Scope of Fed’s Authority (WSJ)
The latest financial-regulation legislation moving through Congress would give the Fed new oversight powers, including the authority to force large firms to shrink if their size threatens the broader economy.
Biden Aide Defends Big Bank Profits, Bonuses (WP)
Jared Bernstein, Biden’s chief economic adviser, defended the enormous profits and bonuses being generated at Goldman Sachs and other big banks that have repaid federal bailout funds.
The FDIC’s Shelia Bair: “There Will Be Losses.” (Newsweek)
FDIC Chief Sheila Bair spoke at the Town Hall Los Angeles this morning, sharing her thoughts on financial markets and some of the policy issues she faces as one of the nation’s top banking authorities.
Stimulus Jobs Overstated by Thousands (AP)
The government has overstated by thousands the number of jobs it has created or saved with federal contracts under the president’s $787 billion recovery program, according to an Associated Press.
Federal Deficit: Trail of Broken Promises (CNN)
Republicans and Democrats rage about the long-term deficit, as if they had nothing to do with it. But both parties undermine efforts to get it under control.
IMF More than Doubles 2009 Asia Forecast (FT)
Fund expects 5.8 per cent GDP rise next year.
Are Finance Professors to Blame for the Financial Crisis? (Time)
Finance professors and their famous finance professor theories.
The Anthropology of Wall Street (Economix)
Karen Ho’s new book, “Liquidated: An Ethnography of Wall Street” takes an anthropologist’s inside view of banking.
“It will be remembered that one of the reasons why NRA was sponsored by Roosevelt, and why the act was passed in the special session of spring, was the threat of a thirty-hour law being pushed by Senator Hugo Black.” — brain truster Rexford G. Tugwell, Roosevelt’s Revolution.
The difference between today and the New Deal: there is no threat of a more radical policy enactment to goad the Obama administration into decisive action.
Posted by Sandwichman | October 31st, 2009 at 11:28 am