Fri 2008-12-12 00:00 EST

AlterNet: Chomsky: Is There Truth in Obama's Advertising?

AlterNet: Noam Chomsky: Is There Truth in Obama's Advertising? ``what's happened to the country...is that there was extensive and very constructive activism in the 1960s...And the activism did civilize the country''; Tom Ferguson's investment theory of politics; Brand Obama; ``The goal of advertising is to create uninformed consumers who will make irrational choices...And when they turn to selling a candidate they do the same thing...So you undermine democracy pretty much the same way you undermine markets.''

AlterNet; Chomsky; Obama's Advertising; truth.

Sun 2008-11-23 00:00 EST

Winter (Economic & Market) Watch >> Observation on the Crack Up Boom Crash

Winter (Economic & Market) Watch >> Observation on the Crack Up Boom Crash; ``a Mad Max speculative boom created false demand, and now there is a Panic liquidation...the pieces will be picked up, and more sustainable, balanced and less speculative growth will be maintained.''

Boom Crash; crack; economic; Market; Observations; watch; winter.

Tue 2008-10-07 00:00 EDT

De-leveraging -- Fairy Tale Endings

De-leveraging Fairy Tale Endings, by Satyajit Das; ``perceived abundance of liquidity was, in reality, merely an illusion created by high levels of debt and leverage''

De-leveraging; Fairy Tales end.

Tue 2008-08-26 00:00 EDT

The Credit Default Swap Market - Will It Unravel?

by Satyajit Das (Prudent Bear); 2008-03-04; "CDS contracts may create incentives for creditors to push troubled companies into bankruptcy"

credit default swaps market; unravelling.

Sun 2008-08-24 00:00 EDT

Here comes the downsizing of finance

by Martin Hutchinson (Prudent Bear); auction-rate securities (ARS); credit default swaps (CDS); ``CDS market creates many times as much risk as it hedges or transfers''; GSEs ``leveraged more than would have been possible without the governments quasi-guarantee, lobbied like to crazy to ensure they were not properly regulated and collapsed thankfully into the arms of the taxpayer as soon as ill winds began to blow...by their presence they turned the soundest product in financial markets, the home mortgage, into an obscene speculative casino, causing collateral damage of many times their own losses.'' ``much of the financial services innovation of the last generation was spurious and unsound, and needs to be done away with''

comes; downsizing; finance.

Sat 2008-07-12 00:00 EDT

naked capitalism: IndyMac Seized By Federal Regulators (And Creates Headache for FDIC)

created headaches; FDIC; Federal regulators; IndyMac Seized; naked capitalism.

Sun 2008-07-06 00:00 EDT

``The System is Broken. We're Entering a Two Economy Society'': An Interview with Michael Hudson

"The System is Broken. We're Entering a Two Economy Society": An Interview with Michael Hudson, by Mike Whitney; democracy precedes oligarchy; reframing tax policy; fraudulent conveyance applied to minimize foreclosure; "Credit is a product that's almost free to create. Its main cost of production is the lobbying expense to buy Congressional support."

broken; Economy Society; enters; interview; Michael Hudson; Systems.

Sun 2008-06-29 00:00 EDT

Winter (Economic & Market) Watch >> eCONomIc SpLiT pErSonaLiTy and NeutEnron Bombs

Winter (Economic & Market) Watch >> eCONomIc SpLiT pErSonaLiTy and NeutEnron Bombs; "the Boyz looked at Enron as the model, spliced and diced it, and then calculated new and better scams under the guise of financial innovation (blessed by buffoons and sycophants like Alan Greenspan and Ben Beranake) and non-public markets (OTC and derivatives) in which to create even larger financial smoke and mirrors in which to loot."

economic; eCONomIc SpLiT pErSonaLiTy; Market; NeutEnron Bombs; watch; winter.

Thu 2008-04-03 00:00 EDT

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis: Fed Uncertainty Principle

"Don't expect the Fed to learn from past mistakes. Instead, expect the Fed to repeat them with bigger and bigger doses of exactly what created the initial problem."

Fed Uncertainty Principle; Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis.

Tue 2008-03-25 00:00 EDT

Interfluidity :: Counterparty of last resort?

Fed "loan" "to support J.P. Morgan's purchase of Bear Stearns...not a loan at all. The Fed and J.P. Morgan are creating an investment fund, to be managed by BlackRock."

counterparty; Interfluidity; resort.

Mon 2008-03-24 00:00 EDT

Hussman Funds - Weekly Market Comment: Why is Bear Stearns Trading at $6 Instead of $2

"unelected bureaucrats went beyond their legal mandates, delivered a windfall to a single private company at public expense, entered agreements that violate the the public trust, and created a situation where even if the bureaucratic malfeasance stands, the shareholders of Bear Stearns will either reject the deal or be deprived of their right to determine the fate of the company they own"

2; 6; Bear Stearns trade; Hussman Funds; weekly market comments.

Thu 2007-12-27 00:00 EST

Winter (Economic & Market) Watch >> Did the Grinch Steal Christmas?

Winter (Economic & Market) Watch >> Did the Grinch Steal Christmas? FHLB not creating liquidity, until bailout; guarantee is merely implicit

economic; Grinch Steal Christmas; Market; watch; winter.

Sun 2007-12-23 00:00 EST

Bear In Mind > Was George Stephanopoulos lying about the PPT?

Bear In Mind > Was George Stephanopoulos lying about the PPT? plunge protection team created by Fed in 1989; cf. Sprott "The Visible Hand" pdf

Bear; George Stephanopoulos lying; mind; PPT.

Sun 2007-11-25 00:00 EST

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis: Liquidity Pump Runs Dry

Fed moves irrelevant as banking system collapses; "Slashing rates to 1% was what created this mess. Cutting them to 1% again can hardly be the solution."

Liquidity Pump Runs Dry; Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis.

Fri 2007-11-16 00:00 EST

naked capitalism: Rating Agencies Created Incentives to Issue Paper More Profitable for Them to Rate

Einhorn on credit; rating agencies compromised; securitization flawed; charging too little for risk-bearing; rating agencies have privileged access to deal data; artificial securitization bias

issues papers; naked capitalism; profits; rate; Rating Agencies Created Incentives.

Fri 2007-09-14 00:00 EDT

Minyanville -

Minyan Mailbag: Has the Fed Added Liquidity to the Markets? "it is not the Fed that creates liquidity in an economy; it is the commercial banking system"

Minyanville.