Tue 2010-08-03 17:01 EDT

The Conservative Nanny State: How the Wealthy Use the Government to Stay Rich and Get Richer

Dean Baker, published May 2006

...economist Dean Baker debunks the myth that conservatives favor the market over government intervention. In fact, conservatives rely on a range of ``nanny state'' policies that ensure the rich get richer while leaving most Americans worse off. It's time for the rules to change. Sound economic policy should harness the market in ways that produce desirable social outcomes -- decent wages, good jobs and affordable health care...

Conservative Nanny State; government; richer; stay rich; wealthy used.

naked capitalism Fri 2010-07-16 16:31 EDT

Debunking Michael Lewis' Subprime Short Hagiography

Lewis' tale is neat, plausible to a mass market audience fed a steady diet of subprime markets stupidity and greed, and incomplete in critical ways that render his account fundamentally misleading...The Big Short focuses on four clusters of subprime short sellers, all early to figure out this ``greatest trade ever'' and thus supposedly deserving of star treatment...The anchor is Steve Eisman...Lewis completely ignores the most vital player, the one who was on the other side of the subprime short bets...Who really was on the other side of the shorts' trades is the important question... ...these are the international equivalent of widows and orphans...Eisman is no noble outsider. He is a willing, knowing co-conspirator. Even worse, he and the other shorts Lewis lionizes didn't simply set off the global debt conflagration, they made the severity of the crisis vastly worse. So it wasn't just that these speculators were harmful, and Lewis gave them a free pass. He failed to clue in his readers that the actions of his chosen heroes drove the demand for the worst sort of mortgages and turned what would otherwise have been a ``contained'' problem into a systemic crisis. The subprime market would have died a much earlier, much less costly death absent the actions of the men Lewis celebrates. They didn't simply keep the market going well past its sell-by date, they were the moving force behind otherwise inexplicable, superheated demand for the very worst sort of mortgages...

Debunking Michael Lewis; naked capitalism; Subprime Short Hagiography.

Jesse's Café Américain Wed 2010-04-07 19:03 EDT

King World Interview with Andrew Maguire the Silver Market 'Whistleblower'

Jesse

"The Biggest Fraud in the World" I do not know what to think about this, except to just offer it up to you for your own information. I am disappointed, however, that only the blogs, and almost no one in the mainstream media, have bothered to cover this story and to speak to the principals, and to either debunk them, support them, or even consider what they have to say. This really is like the Harry Markopolos story, trying to get a hearing on the Madoff ponzi scheme, and being repeatedly ignored, intimidated, and discouraged in every way possible by the establishment, and even fearing for his life... I have now listened to this tape five times, carefully. It is a bombshell. This has to be dealt with, one way or the other. Bring it out into the light of day, and let the facts be known. This is either the equivalent of the fictionalized testimony on the order of the Salem Witch trials, or one of the most damning accusations of malfeasance in office against quasi-governmental agencies, and probably US officials, since Teapot Dome...

Andrew Maguire; Jesse's Café Américain; King World Interview; silver markets; Whistleblower.

Fri 2008-07-04 00:00 EDT

Peak Oil Debunked: 366. FUTURES PRICES DETERMINE PHYSICAL OIL PRICES

"Krugman and Birger are grossly misinformed about the way physical crude is actually priced in the global oil market."

366; Futures Prices Determine Physical Oil Prices; Peak Oil Debunked.

Thu 2008-07-03 00:00 EDT

The Necessary War by William S. Lind

The Necessary War, by William S. Lind; reviews Pat Buchanan's "Churchill, Hitler, and the Unecessary War"; demolishing Churchill; "n both World Wars, the U.S. came out a winner because it left most of the fighting to others." "Debunking comic-book history and replacing it with the real thing is vital if America is to avoid the dual trap of cultural Marxism and Brave New World."

necessary war; William S. Lind.

Wed 2008-07-02 00:00 EDT

Peak Oil Debunked: 365. MASSIVE DROP IN U.S. DEMAND IN APRIL

"supply outstripping demand theory of the feverish price action since March s emanating an extremely fish-like odor. U.S. demand down by a whopping 0.8mbd year-on-year."

365; April; massive drop; Peak Oil Debunked; U. S. demand.

Thu 2008-05-29 00:00 EDT

Interfluidity :: If you think it's the "index speculators"...

debunking Michael Master's testimony regarding commodity speculation; tacit cartel on the producer side, accommodating speculative futures prices, while managing spot supply? Steve Randy Waldman

index speculators; Interfluidity; Think.

Wed 2007-11-28 00:00 EST

Money Matters: The Banks And CDO Insurers Suffer Losses

by Elaine Meinel Supkis; Chinese forcing rising yen caused July dislocations; carry trade debunked; "money, like sex, is best done in the dark"; "England pretended to be moral and upright while looting the world, enslaving Africans, stealing gold,..., patting themselves on the back when they finally stopped committing one crime or another."

bank; CDO Insurers Suffer Losses; money matters.

Mon 2004-03-22 00:00 EST

Salon.com | Debunking the Economist -- again

by James Galbraith (against globalization)

com; Debunking; Economist; Salon.