I’m at a loss. I don’t know what world can justify this, and can only hope that my readers will be just as appalled as I am, because I have nothing to add. WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson testified on Thursday that he pressured Bank of America Corp. last year to go [...]

Below is the text of a letter I’ve sent to Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein. H.R. 1207 (introduced by Ron Paul) and S. 604 (introduced by Bernie Sanders) is a bill that requires the Comptroller General to audit the Fed and report back to Congress within the next 18 months. Given that the only [...]

Pope Benedict XVI has decided to wade into territory which he has no understanding or expertise: the global economy. The New York Times reports that the pope is now calling for a “New World Economic Order”* VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI on Tuesday called for a radical rethinking of the global economy, criticizing a [...]

From Gerald O’Driscoll @ Cato, regarding “too big to fail”: The doctrine states that some banks (now financial institutions generally) are so large that their failure would incur “systemic risk” for the financial system. That sounds terrible and it is intended to. Financial services regulators and Treasury secretaries use it to frighten small children and [...]

As I’ve mentioned before, I sometimes question my allegiance to the belief that we’re in the midst of a bear market rally. Part of this is due to the constant media affinity for “green shoots”, and the fact that in many ways, the “second derivative” is actually improving… But I don’t think the fundamentals are [...]

BB&T, a regional southern bank, is a bit of a darling of the libertarian movement. After Kelo, they made it bank policy to not lend money towards projects utilizing eminent domain. Co-contributor Jason Pye suggested a desire to open an account there after BB&T began donating money to UNC-Greensboro to found a pro-capitalism and pro-markets [...]

Krugman, in 2002: To fight this recession the Fed needs more than a snapback; it needs soaring household spending to offset moribund business investment. And to do that, as Paul McCulley of Pimco put it, Alan Greenspan needs to create a housing bubble. Krugman said then that we needed to reinflate the bubble to save [...]

The Governator is back. And this time, he takes no prisoners: Declaring that “California’s day of reckoning is here,” Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said today the state should turn its dire budget straits into an opportunity to make government more efficient. Speaking to a rare mid-year joint session of the Legislature and other constitutional officers, Schwarzenegger [...]

Interesting notes that Judicial Watch has gotten hold of from Paulson/Bernanke’s offer they can’t refuse back in October. It’s the talking points from the meeting… “Strongarm” would be an understatement: We plan to announce the program tomorrow–and–that your nine firms will be the initial participants…. This is a combined program (bank liability guarantee and capital [...]

When I posted the below open thread, one of the data points used to suggest things were actually recovering was a rise in income that was 0.6% higher than expect (and actually positive — expectation was negative). But it appears that this might be an anomaly brought on by our Congress. From The Big Picture: [...]

California’s in a world of hurt, exacerbated by the fact that we didn’t offer to give the state a whole bunch more money during our ballot propositions yesterday. There are a lot of reasons for our pain, but it really comes down to a state that never quite understood TANSTAAFL. They’ve been sold the lie [...]

How many green shoots does it take to fix this?

I was listening to the local talk show host on my way to work this morning and the topic was the ongoing saga surrounding the auto makers. This particular talk show host is a very pro-union “buy American” (and therefore anti-free trade) kind of guy in the mold of Lou Dobbs. As I pulled into [...]

I’ve said I was going to write a post — one that I’ve been thinking about since Obama’s 100-day mark — on how much worse his Presidency has been than I feared. I expected him to be a typical Democrat in the mold of a Clinton. I expected him to be a typical politician. I [...]

I disagree with Schiff on hyperinflation; but we’re DEFINITELY going to be seeing significant inflation. I’m thinking 1979 levels or so. Note: Schiff is also a firm believer in the inherent value fallacy; which is just that, a fallacy. There is no such thing as a stable currency, because nothing has inherent value. All value [...]

Well, in my own mind, only until this bear market rally tanks, but I’ll get to that later. But here he goes: The bailout worked. At a relatively modest, though by ordinary standards very large ($17 billion), cost to the government, the auto companies were kept out of bankruptcy until the acute psychological phase of [...]

Back in October, the banks appeared to be in very deep trouble. Such deep trouble that they were forced to enter a deal with the Devil decided to run to the government for assistance. But they were shocked — SHOCKED! — when the government starting attaching a whole bunch of regulations and conditions to the [...]

The news of the day is that Chrysler’s creditors have rejected the government’s pittance offering for what they’re owed in the prepackaged bankruptcy, and Obama is pissed. After all, he’s put together what he thinks to be a fair and equitable solution, and those unpatriotic assholes unfeeling greedy bastards creditors dared to defy him. I [...]

Looking for the light at the end of the tunnel? Hat Tip: The Big Picture

As Stephen noted last night, Ron Paul has introduced a bill that would require the Federal Reserve to open it’s books to Congress. According to Thomas, that bill now has 79 co-sponsors. I agree with Stephen that this is an issue that all libertarians, all Americans indeed, need to pay more attention to and, in [...]