The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com Sat 2009-10-10 13:01 EDT

Elizabeth Warren: Serious Questions Remain About Obama's Loan Relief Plan

The Huffington Post News Editors

The Obama administration's effort to help homeowners avoid foreclosure may not achieve its goal of helping 3 million to 4 million borrowers and may simply delay mortgage defaults for many, a government watchdog group says. The Congressional Oversight Panel, charged with making regular assessments of the $700 billion financial rescue fund enacted last year, said the Treasury Department should consider whether to improve the current $50 billion program or adopt new programs to meet an expected rise in foreclosures fed by increased unemployment...

com; Elizabeth Warren; full Feeds; HuffingtonPost; Obama's Loan Relief Plan; Serious questions remain.

Tue 2009-09-29 11:43 EDT

The Post-Bubble Malaise

Mike Whitney

...the Fed is building excess bank reserves (nearly $1 trillion in the last year alone) with the tacit understanding that the banks will return the favor by purchasing Uncle Sam's sovereign debt. It's all very confusing and circular, in keeping with Bernanke's stated commitment to "transparency". What a laugh. The good news is that the trillions in government paper probably won't increase inflation until the economy begins to improve and the slack in capacity is reduced. Then we can expect to get walloped with hyperinflation. But that could be years off. For the foreseeable future, it's all about deflation...The question is, how long can the Obama administration write checks on an account that's overdrawn by $11 trillion (the national debt) before the foreign appetite for US Treasurys wanes and we have a sovereign debt crisis? If the Fed is faking sales of Treasurys to conceal the damage--as I expect it is--we could see the dollar plunge to $2 per euro by the middle of 2010...The consumer is maxed out, private sector activity is in the tank, and government stimulus is the only thing keeping the economy off the meat-wagon. Bernanke might not admit it, but the economy is sinking into post-bubble malaise.

Post bubble malaise.

Jesse's Café Américain Tue 2009-09-22 09:15 EDT

Confessions of a 'Flationary Agnostic

Jesse

I have no particular allegiance to either the hyperinflation or the deflationary camps. Both outcomes are possible, but not yet probable. Rather than being a benefit, occupying the middle ground too often just puts one in the middle, being able to see the merits in both arguments and possibilities, and being unwilling to ignore the flaws in each argument...The growth rate of dollars is slowing at the same time that the 'demand' for dollars, the velocity of money and the creation of new commercial credit, is slowing. GDP is negative, and the growth rate of money supply is still positive, and rather healthy. This is not a monetary deflation, but rather the signs of an emerging stagflation fueled by slow real economic activity and monetization, or hot money, from the Fed. The monetary authority is trying to lead the economic recovery through unusual monetary growth. All they are doing is creating more malinvestment, risk addiction, and asset bubbles...Using money as a 'tool' to stimulate or retard economic activity is a dangerous game indeed, fraught with unintended consequences and unexpected bubbles and imbalances, with a spiral of increasingly destabilizing crises and busts. The Obama Administration bears a heavy responsibility for this because of their failure to reform the system and restore balance to the economy in any meaningful way.

confessed; Flationary Agnostic; Jesse's Café Américain.

naked capitalism Sun 2009-09-20 11:53 EDT

Financial Reform: Not happening but the need is clear

Edward Harrison of Credit Writedowns

If you are looking for reform in the financial sector, the moment has passed. And only to the degree that the underlying weaknesses in the global financial system are made manifest and threaten the economy will we see any appetite for reform amongst politicians. So, as I see it, the Obama administration has missed the opportunity for reform...Steve Keen, an Australian economist whose theories are heavily influenced by Hyman Minsky, has a cogent analysis of the true structural deficits in the current economic model...today we have finally reached a level of debt which is so great that another reflation is impossible. The collapse is now....unlike Keen, I am not convinced the time is now...What I would like to see is economic thought leaders developing a blueprint of a financial crisis strategy which tackles both the immediate crisis issues (liquidity) and the structural, regulatory and monetary issues that create financial volatility (solvency). When crisis does occur, I believe it will be systemic in nature due to the forces Keen so lucidly explains. Therefore, a blueprint which is 1) heavy on tactics and, 2) if implemented in a real systemic crisis, is likely to work, builds credibility. This is political capital which will carry over to longer-term preventive strategies and reforms.

clear; Financial reform; happened; naked capitalism; needed.

Taibblog Sun 2009-09-20 09:51 EDT

Will Obama listen to ex-Fed chief Paul Volcker's warnings?

Matt Taibbi

So former Fed chief Paul Volcker yesterday was spouting off about how nuts it is that certain ``too big to fail'' commercial banks that receive mountains of public money are allowed to run around acting like high-risk hedge funds...This would be meaningful if the Economic Recovery Board that Volcker runs for Obama were actually a chief policymaking center for the president. But the reality is that the Volcker group is a kind of show-pony the Obama administration kept on as a way to give consolation jobs to the more progressive economic advisers who led them through the campaign season, people like University of Chicago professor Austan Goolsbee...Obama did a bit of a bait-and-switch, hiring progressives to run his campaign and jettisoning them once he got into office. I hear about this phenomenon from different corners of the policymaking universe, from health care to defense and intelligence spending. But my sense is that the switch was most violent in the realm of economic policy...

ex-Fed chief Paul Volcker's warnings; Obama listen; Taibblog.

Jesse's Café Américain Thu 2009-08-20 16:46 EDT

The Next Wave of the Financial Crisis Is Coming (And Why)

Jesse

These excerpts from the most recent TARP Congressional Oversight Panel Report make the risks in the US financial system abundantly clear.Do you think that the Congress has the will and the ability to act on their recommendation, with the men currently in positions of power on the key Committees? Do you believe that the Obama Administration is capable of reforming itself and effecting genuine

comes; Financial Crisis; Jesse's Café Américain; wave.

Jesse's Café Américain Thu 2009-08-20 16:44 EDT

The Next Wave of the Financial Crisis Is Coming (And Why)

Jesse

These excerpts from the most recent TARP Congressional Oversight Panel Report make the risks in the US financial system abundantly clear.Do you think that the Congress has the will and the ability to act on their recommendation, with the men currently in positions of power on the key Committees? Do you believe that the Obama Administration is capable of reforming itself and effecting genuine

comes; Financial Crisis; Jesse's Café Américain; wave.

Jesse's Café Américain Thu 2009-08-20 16:42 EDT

The Next Wave of the Financial Crisis Is Coming (And Why)

Jesse

These excerpts from the most recent TARP Congressional Oversight Panel Report make the risks in the US financial system abundantly clear.Do you think that the Congress has the will and the ability to act on their recommendation, with the men currently in positions of power on the key Committees? Do you believe that the Obama Administration is capable of reforming itself and effecting genuine

comes; Financial Crisis; Jesse's Café Américain; wave.

Jesse's Café Américain Thu 2009-08-20 16:36 EDT

The Next Wave of the Financial Crisis Is Coming (And Why)

Jesse

These excerpts from the most recent TARP Congressional Oversight Panel Report make the risks in the US financial system abundantly clear.Do you think that the Congress has the will and the ability to act on their recommendation, with the men currently in positions of power on the key Committees? Do you believe that the Obama Administration is capable of reforming itself and effecting genuine

comes; Financial Crisis; Jesse's Café Américain; wave.

Jesse's Café Américain Thu 2009-08-20 16:35 EDT

The Next Wave of the Financial Crisis Is Coming (And Why)

Jesse

These excerpts from the most recent TARP Congressional Oversight Panel Report make the risks in the US financial system abundantly clear.Do you think that the Congress has the will and the ability to act on their recommendation, with the men currently in positions of power on the key Committees? Do you believe that the Obama Administration is capable of reforming itself and effecting genuine

comes; Financial Crisis; Jesse's Café Américain; wave.

Jesse's Café Américain Thu 2009-08-20 16:34 EDT

The Next Wave of the Financial Crisis Is Coming (And Why)

Jesse

These excerpts from the most recent TARP Congressional Oversight Panel Report make the risks in the US financial system abundantly clear.Do you think that the Congress has the will and the ability to act on their recommendation, with the men currently in positions of power on the key Committees? Do you believe that the Obama Administration is capable of reforming itself and effecting genuine

comes; Financial Crisis; Jesse's Café Américain; wave.

Jesse's Café Américain Thu 2009-08-20 16:29 EDT

The Next Wave of the Financial Crisis Is Coming (And Why)

Jesse

These excerpts from the most recent TARP Congressional Oversight Panel Report make the risks in the US financial system abundantly clear.Do you think that the Congress has the will and the ability to act on their recommendation, with the men currently in positions of power on the key Committees? Do you believe that the Obama Administration is capable of reforming itself and effecting genuine

comes; Financial Crisis; Jesse's Café Américain; wave.

Jesse's Café Américain Thu 2009-08-20 16:26 EDT

The Next Wave of the Financial Crisis Is Coming (And Why)

Jesse

These excerpts from the most recent TARP Congressional Oversight Panel Report make the risks in the US financial system abundantly clear.Do you think that the Congress has the will and the ability to act on their recommendation, with the men currently in positions of power on the key Committees? Do you believe that the Obama Administration is capable of reforming itself and effecting genuine

comes; Financial Crisis; Jesse's Café Américain; wave.

Jesse's Café Américain Thu 2009-08-20 16:25 EDT

The Next Wave of the Financial Crisis Is Coming (And Why)

Jesse

These excerpts from the most recent TARP Congressional Oversight Panel Report make the risks in the US financial system abundantly clear.Do you think that the Congress has the will and the ability to act on their recommendation, with the men currently in positions of power on the key Committees? Do you believe that the Obama Administration is capable of reforming itself and effecting genuine

comes; Financial Crisis; Jesse's Café Américain; wave.

Jesse's Café Américain Thu 2009-08-20 16:17 EDT

The Next Wave of the Financial Crisis Is Coming (And Why)

Jesse

These excerpts from the most recent TARP Congressional Oversight Panel Report make the risks in the US financial system abundantly clear.Do you think that the Congress has the will and the ability to act on their recommendation, with the men currently in positions of power on the key Committees? Do you believe that the Obama Administration is capable of reforming itself and effecting genuine

comes; Financial Crisis; Jesse's Café Américain; wave.

Tue 2009-02-24 00:00 EST

Jesse's Café Américain: Bad Bank Proposal is Bad Policy and a Symptom of Serious Problems in Obama Administration

Jesse's Café Américain: Bad Bank Proposal is Bad Policy and a Symptom of Serious Problems in Obama Administration

Bad Bank Proposal; bad policies; Jesse's Café Américain; Obama administration; serious problem; symptoms.