regulatory capture

"There are unintended consequences of free markets. It's not capitalism that has been the problem, but irresponsible governments and politicians who have allowed the financial system to explode by permitting the build-up of ludicrous…

I want to talk about why people blame government for the state of the economy more than Wall Street and what I think the remedies are. This will be a long post. So feel free to bookmark it to read it and the links when you have a moment.

Bob Ivry, Hugh Son and Christine Harper have written an article that needs to be read by everyone interested in the financial crisis. The article (available here) is entitled: BofA Said to Split Regulators Over Moving Merrill Derivatives…

The following is a transcript of an interview with Financial Sense Newshour, a free financial/market broadcast hosted by money manager Jim Puplava on the week's market action, interviews with financial experts, and Jim's personal…

This column addresses the high price paid by the President’s Council of Economic Advisors’ failure to read Akerlof & Romer

Yesterday, Sheila Bair wrote an unusual Op-Ed in the Washington Post in that it was penned just after departing a high-ranking government position and it was also highly critical of the government’s policy responses. The obvious conclusion…

Bair is too diplomatic to name names. But she is as blunt and direct as you can be without doing so. While no names were named it is abundantly clear from the Nocera piece at whom she points a disapproving finger: Paulson, Summers,…

Wray’s view: Banks are bigger than before the crisis. But, despite their books showing profits, it is not clear if they are adequately reserving for loans and liabilities already on their balance sheets. The right approach is to actually…

The title of the latest crisis book is “Reckless Endangerment”. Authors Grechen Morgenstern and Josh Rosner sat down with Aaron Task at Yahoo’s Tech Ticker to review the role of the regulators in our crisis. Theirs is a story of regulatory…

Legislation to modify debit-card interchange fees cannot compete with celebrity gossip. It is not surprising that lobbying efforts have changed the minds of 19 senators who formerly aligned themselves with consumers and small banks (to…