Financial news from around the web: 2009-12-03

• Economist’s View: Fed Watch: Bubbles and Policy
• Economist’s View: "The Economics and Policy of Illegal Immigration in the United States"
• Bruce Krasting: Jobs – A Solution at Hand? (I have been talking about a payroll tax cut. Here are some specifics on how to make it deficit neutral.)
• Japans Companies Cut Capital Spending at Record Pace – Bloomberg.com (Doesn’t sound a lot like a sustainable recovery. Sheesh. No wonder they are printing money.)
• EconoSpeak: Dean Baker Statement on President Obama’s Job Summit
• Economics of Contempt: Making TBTF Policy Work: Prompt Corrective Action
• Asymmetric information and corporate governance in bank bailouts (This is a June post. Now that BofA and others have given back their TARP money, this is the scenario regulators need to guard against)
• Why Didn’t Canada’s Housing Market Go Bust? :: James MacGee :: Economic Commentary :: 12.02.09 :: Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland
• Bill Black: Geithner as Martyr to an Ungrateful Nation: Bo Cutter’s Tragicomic Portrayal of Tim as Our “Man for all Seasons”
• The Mess That Greenspan Made: The recurring gold "bubble"
• A tale of two unemployment rates | The Economist
• Act now! Most Senators ‘Have Fingers in the Wind’ on Bernanke -Yves Smith
• Hotel CMBS Defaults Worst of All CRE: Fitch : HousingWire
• Bank of America plans to repay $45bn to US Treasury – Telegraph
• FT.com – Millions in US lack bank access
• Banks warned over £79bn of ‘poor quality’ property debts – Telegraph
• How the monetary easing measure will work | The Japan Times Online (The BOJ is offering 3-month 0.1% loans. They expect the Yen to fall.)
• China wary of gold ‘bubble’ danger after quietly doubling its reserves – Telegraph

Distraction of the Day: Watching P. Diddy and the Home Shoppers Network (Is this what Americans are doing with their free time?)