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Archive: October 2008

Reagan Endorses Obama

Business Week Debate Room

Over at Business Week's Debate Room, I'm arguing the Pro side of the resolution: "U.S. Economy: Years of Hardship Ahead."

The Con-man is Ethan S. Harris, author of Ben Bernanke's Fed: The Federal Reserve After Greenspan.

Caffè Strada Blogging: Paul Krugman

Krugman wins the Nobel prize in economics. I think Krugman himself got it exactly right when he said: "To be absolutely, totally honest I thought this day might come someday, but I was absolutely convinced it wasn't going to be this day."

The best thing about giving the prize to Krugman was that they didn't double up, pairing him, for example, with the very unpleasant right-wing trade economist Jagdish Bhagwati "for balance."

I'm posting from the patio of Caffè Strada in Berkeley. In a few hours, I'll be giving a talk on low-wage work in Europe at the Institute for Research on Labor and Employement.

Recipe for Salt Cake from The Onion

The Onion reprints a colonial recipe for "Salt Cake," which I reprint for the benefit of my sisters.

Two Large Buckets Sea-Brine
Four Pounds Jew's Salt
One and One Half Pounds Butter (Salted)
One Blueberry

Any lacking Ingredients May be substituted with 
double Parts Coal Cinders, excepting the Blueberry, 
for which Two Pinches Salt are recommended if the 
Fruit cannot be obtained.

More from The Economist

The October 2 edition of The Economist has results from their poll of economists' views on the two main presidential candidates' economic plans.

Apparently, economists don't read The Economist much because they seem to love Obama.

Charts from The Economist

The Economist on The Economy

This gets it about right.

Fake Economist cover with 'Oh, Fuck'

(Via Adbusters. Thanks, Kris!)

Top Ten Reasons: Weisbrot on IMF

My CEPR colleague, Mark Weisbrot, went all David Letterman on the International Monetary Fund today with: "Top Ten Reasons Why the IMF Should not Lead the Reform in Global Finance."

10. The IMF totally missed the two biggest asset bubbles in the history of the world. [Stock-market bubble. Housing bubble.]

9. The IMF is unaccountable.

8. Developing countries have no significant say in IMF decisions.

7. The IMF has been at the head of a creditors' cartel that has pressured developing countries to adopt dubious policies over the last three decades.

6. The IMF made a mess in the last set of financial and economic crises: Argentina, East Asia, and Russia.

5. The IMF has shown no serious efforts at reform despite repeated failures.

4. The IMF's economic projections can be way off target and may be politically influenced.

3. The IMF's recommended economic policies have, in general, failed.

2. The IMF has been a champion of the de-regulated global financial flows that played a huge role in the current mess.

1. The IMF is mostly run by the U.S. Treasury Department.

More details, including a video link and a slide presentation here.

Dean Baker on Bailout

As a public service to my friends who are confused about the bailout, I reproduce here almost all of Dean Baker's posts on the bailout, in chronological order from September 19 through this morning.

September 19, 2008

10:39PM

"Questions on the Bush Bailout Package"

September 20, 2008

9:24AM

"The Budget and the Bailout"

12:43PM

"Progressive Conditions for a Bailout"

2:52PM

"Paulson Proposal: A Blank Check for Proven Incompetents"

September 21, 2008

9:22AM

"Paulson Missed the Bubble and Understated the Financial Crisis at Every Point"

11:26PM

"Senator Shelby Doesn't Understand the Bailout"

September 22, 2008

10:24PM

"Stocks Fall Because Congress May Not Give Banks Windfall"

September 23, 2008

5:34AM

"Extending the Bailout: It's Simple, Sell Us the Company and You're In"

September 24, 2008

5:38AM

"Leonhardt is Wrong, Limiting CEO Pay is Not a Sideshow to This Bailout"

11:05PM

"Paulson Says Bailout Is Not Urgent"

September 25, 2008

5:05AM

"No Bailout: Stop Rewarding Incompetence"

5:54AM

"MarketPlace Radio Misleads the Public on the Crisis"

8:25AM

"The Washington Post and Peter Peterson: Two More Reasons to Oppose This Bailout"

11:15PM

"NYT Gets It Wrong: Credit Has Not Frozen"

September 26, 2008

6:33AM

"The NYT Wants to Prop Up Pets.com Stock Price"

2:45PM

"Bailing on the Bailout, or Is It Too Big to Bail?"

September 27, 2008

12:51PM

"Bailout Conditions: Ending Welfare as We Know it Now"

10:21PM

"Wall Street's Infinite Sleaze: Goldman and AIG"

September 28, 2008

12:31PM

"Financial Meltdown: The Day After"

September 29, 2008

5:21AM

"NPR Misrepresents Bailout"

6:09AM

"Why Bail? The Banks Have a Gun Pointed at Their Head and Are Threatening to Pull the Trigger"

8:57PM

"The Bailout Round II: Adult Version? "

10:28PM

"NYT Promotes Hysteria on Bailout Bill"

September 30, 2008

6:18AM

"The Stock Market Is Not the Economy"

10:19PM

"When Wall Street Needs Money, Rules of Journalism No Longer Apply"

11:09PM

"How Do You Make a DC Intellectual Look Less Articulate Than Sarah Palin Being Interveiwed by Katie Couric?"

October 1, 2008

5:27AM

"Thomas Friedman: Another Example of Bailout Support Due to Unthinking Fear and Anger"

5:46AM

"Economics Lesson for Reporters: Other Things Equal, a High Stock Market is a Transfer of Wealth from People Who Don't Own Stock to People Who Do"

2:40PM

"The Credit Squeeze Scare"

October 2, 2008

5:58AM

"Responsibility and the Bailout: Will They Resign If It Fails?"

10:20AM

"The Plunge in Commercial Paper"

12:16PM

"Washington Post Gets Its Argument for the Bailout Wrong"

October 3, 2008

5:27AM

"NYT Reports On Paulson's Role in the Great Heist"

5:38AM

"Letting the Bank Robber Fix the Bank's Books"

6:25AM

"The Problem Is House Prices, NOT Interest Rates"

Boltbus blogging: Rich Trumka on racism in the election

Seems to be some problem with embedding this particular clip. Just in case, here is the direct link.