The Bernanke Rules for Mortgage Lending

March 28, 2008 at 10:37 am

Ben Bernanke outlined several basic consumer protection rules in a recent speech at the National Community Reinvestment Coalition’s annual meeting. I have to give Bernanke credit for trying to strike a balance and use regulation effectively to benefit both groups: lenders and borrowers. Here is how Bernanke framed the proposed […]

The Federal Reserve’s Contribution to Inflation

March 27, 2008 at 9:00 pm

Though I’m not in favor of a gold standard, it’s interesting to hear Ron Paul talk about how printing more money makes prices higher for the average American. Think about it this way, if you look at the price of oil in terms of gold, it has remained almost unchanged […]

A Crisis of Confidence: Part II

March 25, 2008 at 2:43 pm

Newsweek just published an article about how a lack of confidence doomed Bear Stearns. Here are a couple of interesting points from the article: “A company is only as solvent as the perception of its solvency,” Oppenheimer analyst Meredith Whitney Bernanke declared the subprime crisis contained last year even as […]

A Crisis of Confidence

March 23, 2008 at 6:33 pm

Not long ago, President Bush visited Saudi Arabia to ask the Saudis to turn up the spigots. The Saudis, however, didn’t bite and stated that the price of oil may be the least of our concerns. ”The concern for the U.S. economy is valid, but what affects the U.S. economy […]

What makes a working economy?

January 21, 2008 at 9:25 pm

The “free market” is one of the most powerful frames conservatives use to advance their agenda. How many times have you heard the phrase “leave it to the market” or “let the market do its work”? This argument has been applied to everything from the breakup of AT&T to social security to just about every argument conservatives have about fighting “big government”.

att_history-550

The reason this argument is so effective is that most people can clearly see how the “free market” has brought many good things into their lives. The idea of a “win, win” situation is understood from daily transactions. When markets function properly, people often benefit.

The issue is that certain conditions are necessary to maintain this functioning “free market”. The Rockridge Institute has one of the best summations I’ve seen of the underlying assumptions of a “free market”.

A Call for Patient-Centered Health Care

December 28, 2007 at 6:57 pm

As Americans, we spend more on health care than any other nation and get less. Why is this the case? Just for a second, I’d like to ask you to tune out all that you’ve heard about health care and to think like an insurance company. I used to work […]

Taking From the Poor, Giving to the Rich

December 15, 2007 at 3:10 pm

Here’s an interesting post from Jared Bernstein on the growing economic gap between rich and poor. Compiled from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) statistics, here’s some highlights: $400 billion was transferred from the bottom 95% to the top 5%. The share of income held by the top 1% has climbed […]

Dear Democrats: Here’s How to Fight in the Budget Fight

December 13, 2007 at 1:27 am

Today, the inevitable happened. Congress caved in to virtually all of President Bush’s budget requests. Previously, I warned that the Democrats had painted themselves into a corner because they only see two alternatives: fund the war or cut funding altogether. And they’re afraid to cut funding for the war because […]

Rebuilding the Middle

December 7, 2007 at 4:32 pm

Feeling the end of a Republican administration that has gone out of its way to help big business, lobbyists are rushing to pass last minute legislation to receive as many handouts as possible. Large broadcasters want to be able to own more stations and media outlets, trucking companies want their […]

Supreme Excellence in Warfare

November 24, 2007 at 3:03 pm

One of the greatest ironies of the Bush administration is that the worse the President performs, the more people think that they need a “strong leader” like him.

For example, Bush invades Iraq on trumped up charges, destabilizes the Middle East, creates more terrorists than ever before, and convinces people we need a strong leader to solve these problems. Of course, few mention that Republicans are responsible for these problems in the first place.