Joe Stiglitz is actually an economist I respect. This argument about the inevitable decline of the dollar as the world reserve currency is terrific. The forces in motion cannot be stopped. In 50 years the dollar will not be the world reserve currency and the geo-political landscape will look very different. Will that transition be smooth? hmmm…I hope so, but I fear not.
The state of the American health care industry is following in lock-step with the U.S. financial services industry–greed is the operating principal.
Jane Hamsher: House Health Care Bill: A Death Sentence For My Fellow Breast Cancer Survivors.
Wolf: Fed’s Secret Wall St Bailout Going Strong | The Big Picture.
This is all that really needs to be said:
Martin Wolf:
By lending the banks money at zero interest rates, the FT’s Martin Wolf says, the Fed is helping the banks recapitalize themselves. The banks aren’t lending because they’re still trying to recover from all the lousy loans they made three years ago (and because there aren’t all that many folks to lend to). So there’s nothing else to do with the money other than hoard it, buy safe Treasuries, and pay huge bonuses.
It’s annoying to watch banks that would have collapsed a year ago now minting money at taxpayer expense. But that’s the way monetary stimulus always works.
It just keeps getting uglier. What happens when all these Option ARMs reset?
The four graphs accompanying his post paint a very disturbing picture, notwithstanding the “surprise” GDP uptick. Can you say “the bigger the bounce, the longer the fall?”
Not sure how anyone with an IQ above 50 believes we can actually have a recovery when wages & productivity are down, unemployment is rising and consumers have no money to spend. WTF people…wake up.
It seems my brief essay on the end of the American empire is in good company.
Financial Armageddon: Declining Empire, Banana Republic, or Failed State?.
Is this the silver lining in the mortgage crisis? The whole principle is that you need to provide documentary proof of all mortgage transfers. If only this catches on. It could really be a game changer for the individual.
Woohoo, the recession’s over! Oh…but wait…the depression’s on its way.
Will the duplicity ever end? When will Americans wake up and realize this economic team is destroying the fabric of our society by sanctioning the continued pillaging of the American consumer? Are you F’ing kidding me? Bernanke has some serious cajones. But then again, we are all sheep, so what does he have to lose? It’s not like someone in Congress or in the White House is going to wake up and stop him from continuing to fleece the American consumer.