regulation

I fully support deficit spending as a means to prevent a debt deflationary spiral in a deep downturn.  However, there are limits to what stimulus can actually do. Stimulus is no panacea for an unbalanced economy. In particular, when…

G-20 Financial Reform Efforts Update Osborne tries to put the brakes on banking reform - Telegraph Obama pushes U.S. bank tax - National Post The Usual Fare Bill to Extend Unemployment Benefits Dies - WSJ.com BBC News - Why…

As the details of the agreement struck by the key House and Senate conference on financial reform has been embraced favorably by the US equity market, that is being led by the financials, and the foreign currencies.    In the…

In this video from the Wall Street Journal, Sheila Bar talks to the Journal's David Wessel explaining her view that the financial reform bill due to be passed by Congress will end too big to fail. Also see the associated WSJ article,…

It looks like regulatory reform might have some teeth from the latest updates from Josh Rosner.

By John Lounsbury. Here is some astounding news:  BP PLC (BP) has 97% of the most serious safety violations at U.S. refineries over the past 35 months.  In the very top "egregious" category, BP has 99.9% of all…

The following is an hour-long speech Nouriel Roubini recently gave based on his new book Crisis Economics–A Crash Course in the Future of Finance (Penguin Press, 2010). This is probably the most complete framing of the credit crisis by…

The following is the text of a James K. Galbraith’s written statement to members of the Senate Judiciary Committee delivered this May. Original text is here. Chairman Specter, Ranking Member Graham, Members of the Subcommittee, as a…

Below is a partial list of April FDIC enforcement decisions and orders. I have only included cease-and-desist orders, prompt corrective action notices and termination of insurance orders as these are the signs of banking system distress.

Two notes from Andy Lees of UBS confirmed for me that a slowdown in China is underway and that developments in Europe are adding to the pressure.  In my view, this may mean a second-half reversal of the tightening we have seen in China…