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Category Archives: Lance’s Page
Animated Unemployment
A very cool animated Graphic showing the change in unemployment over the last two years. Click Image for Animation
Posted in Economics, Lance's Page
3 Comments
Taking a Closer Look at Unemployment
Employment as measured by the “establishment survey,” was down by 190,000; and Many feel it is an improvement that we are not falling as fast. Well, let us take a moment to look under the hood of these numbers. First, … Continue reading
“So how is that working out for you, Mr President?”
Good Friend Bruce McQuain picks up on a story I noticed yesterday. Rather than rehash it, I’ll let him lay it out: Greg Mankiw reminds us of this bit of fantasy: What we are not doing — what I have … Continue reading
Posted in Domestic Politics, Economics, Lance's Page
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The New F***ing Citibank
The New F***ing Citibank – watch more funny videos NSFW due to strong language.
Heh
Dilbert
Posted in Domestic Politics, Humor, Lance's Page
Tagged bailout, Dilbert, Domestic Politics
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Step Right Up! It’s Your Bailout Too!
I hear repeatedly from our fellow citizens “where is my bailout?” For those who have been wondering the fine journalists at Vanity Fair have found the paperwork so you can begin applying now for, as the application says, “free government … Continue reading
Posted in Domestic Politics, Economics, Humor, Lance's Page
Tagged auto industry, bailout, Chrysler, Financial Institutions, Ford, GM, Hank Paulson, Humor, treasury
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Calculating the cost of bailing out the economy
Now that the NBER has decided to endorse my view that we went into recession last December which I first first claimed last January, I think my points about the efficacy of fiscal stimulus still apply. As for spending already … Continue reading
Bits and Pieces: 11-18-08
Russ Roberts:”Oh Please-President Bush has lost the right to say this.” Also, he has a great Mea Culpa on why he missed this, and a discussion that fits right into my theme about how many missed this meltdown, and advice … Continue reading
Posted in Lance's Page
Tagged Economics, Investing, Playboy, spam, trade, Wall Street
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Peter Schiff’s Payback
The insufferable Peter Schiff has a video going around, which frankly, is just brilliant. He may be unpleasant at times, but he nailed this thing, and took mounds of abuse while doing so. More importantly, I KNOW HOW HE FEELS! … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Investing, Lance's Page
Tagged credit crisis, debt, Economics, finance, Investing, Peter Schiff, risk
3 Comments
De-leveraging
Given the topic of tonight’s podcast I thought a little visual data might help. First, the explosion in US debt: Henry Blodget explains: From the early 1920s through 1985, the average level of debt-to-GDP in this country was 155%. The … Continue reading
Whoopee, its bailout time!
From the comments at Financial Times: Nov. 13 (Bloomberg) — In a surprise move today, Whoopee Cushions Inc was approved bank holding company status by the Fed to enable the company access to the recently revised TURD scheme. Imported far-eastern … Continue reading
Posted in Humor, Lance's Page
Tagged bailout, Bloomberg, Federal Reserve, Financial Times, industry, Mr Magoo, satire, TURD, whoopee cushions
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Playmates during crisis
Does the object of our desire tend to change during tough times? Yes, according to this paper on men’s preferences when it comes to Playboy’s models: Consistent with Environmental Security Hypothesis predictions, when social and economic conditions were difficult, older, … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Lance's Page, social science
Tagged 2008, beauty, body mass, breasts, bust-to-waist ratio, conditional economics, credit crisis, Economics, Environmental Security Hypothesis, facial features, gender, index values, Jayde Nicole, Playboy, playmates, pornography, reproduction, sex, social dynamics, Tyler Cowen, women
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Laid Off By Lehman: One Broker’s Story
Heh, heh, heh.
Posted in Economics, Humor, Lance's Page
Tagged brokers, Humor, Lehman Brothers, video
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The View From Here
I wonder if the juxtaposition of that headline and that photo was intentional? Anyway, over at Risk and Return I follow up Dale, McQ and my discussion of the markets and the economy during the last couple of podcasts with … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Investing, Lance's Page
Tagged bailout, Investing, LA Times, the economy
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Are We Maiking Things Worse?
Yves Smith hits a theme I have been harping on, the Federal Reserve, and central banks in general, are making things worse in may ways by destroying the incentive for banks to lend or borrow from one another. She quotes … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Lance's Page
Tagged banks, credit crisis, Federal Reserve, LIBOR
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Stock and Awe in Baghdad
The Markets have spoken, the best place to invest in the world is…Iraq! Now it’s stock and awe in Baghdad! As the Dow plummeted nearly 700 points yesterday to fall well below the 9,000 mark, the Iraqi stock exchange – … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Foreign affairs, Investing, Lance's Page
Tagged Bull Market, Iraq, Stock market, Wall Street
2 Comments
Another Reason To Not Like The Plan
I have argued in the past that the Federal Reserve’s policies may be helping in some ways, but hurting in others. Way too much borrowing and lending is running through the Fed which is drying up lending between banks. It … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Lance's Page
Tagged Ben Bernanke, credit crisis, Federal Reserve, Hank Paulson, money markets
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In Summary
Tyler Cowen states his basic views on the crisis. My response in italics:
Strategery Capital Management LLC
A new distressed debt leveraged hedge fund has been launched: Go visit the website for all their competitive advantages!
Posted in Economics, Humor, Investing, Lance's Page
Tagged Ben Bernanke, credit crisis, distressed debt, George Bush, Hank Paulson, hedge funds
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When are we being Chicken Littles?
Let us look at one of the ways that we are being panicked unnecessarily, and why incidentally we can help many of these financial institutions in the fashion I discussed in my post on a potential alternative plan. In my … Continue reading
My favorite proposal for helping financial institutions
I do believe we should be doing something as a nation, through our government, to avoid the not insignificant chance of a total financial meltdown. I have seen several things proposed that I find interesting, and I will get into … Continue reading
Posted in Domestic Politics, Economics, Lance's Page
Tagged banks, bond holders, credit crisis, debt, economy, Federal Reserve, finance, Goldman Sachs, John Hussman, Paulson plan, Warren Buffett
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Hooray for Mental Health!
If you support the Paulson bailout plan that is. The New York Times has coverage. The Senate proposal would cost more than $100 billion and extend and expand many individual and business tax breaks, including tax credits for the production … Continue reading
Posted in Domestic Politics, Economics, Lance's Page, taxes
Tagged economic stimulus, financial crisis, Paulson plan, renewable energy, taxes
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The Monetary Base Finally Moves
The Federal Reserve has for a long time eschewed increasing the money supply directly, and instead has manipulated credit to affect the economy and control inflation. This has led to three important things which are in my opinion at the … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Lance's Page
Tagged Debt crisis, Federal Reserve, leverage, monetray policy, treasury
3 Comments
We are led by little men and women
I was not in favor of the Paulson plan if you haven’t caught that yet. Still, the pitiful display from our congress today set a recent low. First, faced with an unpopular and contentious bill which she feels for the … Continue reading
Posted in Domestic Politics, Economics, Lance's Page
Tagged bailout, congress, Democrats, John Boehner, Nancy Pelosi, Paulson plan, Republicans
1 Comment
The SEC doesn’t get the short end of the stick
If they did, then they wouldn’t have banned short selling. People may have noticed that the ban hasn’t helped, and today we see one of the real costs. See, when markets collapse like today, short sellers dive into the market … Continue reading
…and I want a pony!
Larry Summers and Mark Thoma argue that if done right the bailout will mean we can solve this crisis and still have everything we want, tax cuts, health care spending and all kinds of other goodies. Larry argues: Just as … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Lance's Page
Tagged bailout, Chrysler, housing, housing market, Larry Summers, Mark Thoma, mortgage crisis
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Short of Wisdom, Common Sense and a Grasp of Reality
The hedge fund industry is feeling gloomy, and so is Mayfair. Meanwhile our government is considering following London’s lead and making their lives even more difficult, by banning short selling for a while. Yep, Fannie would have been just fine … Continue reading
Posted in Domestic Politics, Economics, Investing, Lance's Page
Tagged bailout, Christopher Cox, markets, S.E.C, short sellers, stocks
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Uprecedented Financial Turmoil
Today the Fed went to the Treasury and asked for a line of credit. You know, the lender of last resort has had to turn to our Treasury to protect their balance sheet. Want to see something weird. Go here … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Investing, Lance's Page
Tagged Bonds, Federal Reserve, finance, financial markets, Investing, money markets, Treasury Bills
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New Era Mergers
From Craigs List, though it has since been removed: H/T- Alphaville
Posted in Humor, Lance's Page
Tagged Craigs List, Humor, investment banks, Lehman Brothers, mergers
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Lone accountant takes on IRS and wins
And millions of us may benefit. The dispute arose when more than 30 mutual life insurance companies became publicly traded corporations in the late 1990s and earlier this decade, in a process known as “demutualization.” Mutual companies are owned by … Continue reading
Posted in Lance's Page, taxes
Tagged Charles Ulrich, Demutualization, IRS, life insurance, Met Life, taxes
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All Tomorrows Parties
A treat for Velvet Underground fans, Bud Benderbe reinterprets the seminal alternative band: More over at Airforce Amazon.
Found Him
Joshua hasn’t disappeared, he just isn’t gracing us with his opinions on the conflict in the Caucasus, but you can find them at Registan.net, here and here. Heh, Insty links to him, but describes it as peevish (Josh? Peevish? Also, … Continue reading
Posted in Foreign affairs, Lance's Page
Tagged Abkhazia, annexation, caucasus, conflict, Georgia, Joshua Foust, Putin, Registan, Russia, Saakashvili, South Ossetia, war
2 Comments
Georgia vs Finland
Zbigniew Brzezinski strikes a note from our discussion on tonights podcast and compares the invasion of Georgia with Stalin’s assault on Finland. If Georgia can hold up the military end of that analogy it would be quite impressive. I am … Continue reading
Posted in Foreign affairs, Lance's Page
Tagged analogy, Finland, Georgia, invasion, military, podcast, Putin, qando, Stalin, Zbigniew Brzezinski
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QandO Podcast
McQ, Dale and I discuss the Russian campaign against Georgia over South Ossetia. Generally I feel that our support should belong to Georgia. However, Georgia has severely miscalculated in this matter, and frankly our options are limited. At best, we … Continue reading
Posted in Foreign affairs, Lance's Page
Tagged Abkhazia, airspace, campaign, Dale, discuss, Georgia, Lee, McQ, NATO, negotiated settlement, peacekeeeping, peacekeepers, Putin, Russia, South Ossetia, sovreignty, US, war
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Free Riding?
Alex Taborrak has a story: How an Economist Thinks Over the weekend a crew came round my neighborhood offering to paint house numbers on the curb. Large bold curb numbers, they pointed out, make it easier for emergency service workers … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Lance's Page, Philosophy
Tagged Alex Taborrak, curb numbers, Economics, economist, emergency service workers, neighbors, Philosophy, story, weekend
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Fail Early or Don’t Fail at All
On tonights podcast at QandO, I called in at McQ’s request to discuss the economy. One of the things we discussed was the likelihood of our government continuing to bail out our financial institutions. For a number of reasons that … Continue reading
Posted in Domestic Politics, Economics, Lance's Page
Tagged bailout, economy, Federal Reserve, moral hazard
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Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn R.I.P.
The impact of this man on the world is not part of the memory of many today. I’ll be breaking out a few of his books this week in his memory. A true Giant has passed away. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, whose … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, History, Lance's Page, Religion and theology
Tagged Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, communism, Russia, Soviet Union
1 Comment
Jupiter Unveiled
A simply stunning series of pictures of Jupiter and its moons. Lots more at the link.
A Paranoid on Paranoia-Last updated 1:06 CST
After 9/11 itself, the anthrax attacks were probably the most consequential event of the Bush presidency. One could make a persuasive case that they were actually more consequential. You could? The 9/11 attacks were obviously traumatic for the country, but … Continue reading
Creative Capitalism
I think this is a fascinating blog, Creative Capitalism. Of Course, I am a geek. Creative Capitalism: A Conversation is a web experiment designed to produce a book — a collection of essays and commentary on capitalism, philanthropy and global … Continue reading
Posted in Developmental economics, Economics, Lance's Page
Tagged Developmental economics, Economics
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Environmental Incoherence
Pelosi says, “I’m trying to save the planet; I’m trying to save the planet.” Charles Krauthammer points out the incoherence of this: Does Pelosi imagine that with so much of America declared off-limits, the planet is less injured as drilling … Continue reading
Posted in Domestic Politics, energy, Environment, Lance's Page
Tagged Domestic Politics, Environment, Nancy Pelosi, oil
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Happy Birthday Milton: Video Link Fixed
It is Milton Friedman’s birthday! For all kinds of coverage, go to my Milton Friedman Memorial page. Scroll to the bottom and there is a huge collection of thoughts on his passing. Here is one of my favorite bits:
Posted in Lance's Page, Milton Friedman Memorial Page
Tagged Economics, Milton Friedman
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Reality Based Analysis?
EJ Dionne thinks McCain is blowing it: By running an attack campaign that is almost a parody of George W. Bush’s 2000 and 2004 exertions, McCain is chucking away his greatest opportunity, which is to show that he could reform … Continue reading
Posted in Domestic Politics, Election 2008, Lance's Page
Tagged Domestic Politics, Election 2008, McCain, Obama
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Let us give them even more power
I don’t do much union bashing, but Retief has inspired me. In Montgomery, the Police Union is standing in the way: FOR MORE than a decade, state, county and municipal police departments across the country have been shifting to the … Continue reading
The Civil McCain Myth
I don’t think McCain is being particularly nasty to Obama (nor Obama particularly nice) but I think Daniel Larson hits the nail on the head here: Indeed, to the extent that his agreement with the administration on many major policies … Continue reading
Posted in Domestic Politics, Election 2008, Lance's Page
Tagged Election 2008, McCain, Obama
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