Credit Writedowns

Leader Limbaugh: Chalk One Up to Obama, DNC - 538 Limbaugh tops the list--not only among Democrats, but Republicans and all national adults surveyed--as the figure identified as "the main person speaking for the Republican…

Alan Blinder, David Leonhardt, and Alan Auerbach talk about deficits.  Leonhardt had a well-regarded piece in the New York Times on the issue linked below. There are two basic truths about the enormous deficits that the federal…

Marc Chandler, Global Head of Currency Strategy at Brown Brothers Harriman has a good piece out today highlighting the differing economic policy agendas of the BRIC group (Brazil, Russia, India and China).  In it he suggests CRIBS is a…

"In many ways the effect of the crash on embezzlement was more significant than on suicide. To the economist embezzlement is the most interesting of crimes. Alone among the various forms of larceny it has a time parameter. Weeks,…

Letterman Defends Palin Jokes - Political Wire The jokes were over the top really. But Palin is obviously pandering to a certain segment of the population in her response here. Some of the routine was genuinely funny, but, on the…

Submitted by Edward Harrison of the site Credit Writedowns. During the last generation, the economics profession has veered toward a ‘science’ model of economics and finance. The intellectual underpinnings for this development began with…

The drama at Bank of America continues with Ken Lewis testifying before Congress today.  Most of the events surround claims by Lewis that he was coerced into doing the Merrill deal by Hank Paulson and Ben Bernanke.   I…

The U.S. Labor Department came out with its latest weekly report.  The data were mixed because initial claims are pointing to recovery, but continuing claims continue to hit new records.  The long and short: the U.S. Labor market remains…

California nears financial ''meltdown'' as revs tumble Can you say "Bankruptcy or Obama?" Countrywide Exec Warned The Fed On Toxic Mortgages - Tom Lindmark Apparently, the head of risk at CFC was ignored not only by senior…

Since so many economists are signing up to the second-half recovery meme (Berner, Gordon, Krugman, Bernanke), I am going to ask you whether you believe them or not. What say ye? (If you can't read the above it is a poll asking you…