"Words that make actions speak louder."
I didn’t expect to see serious economic policy discussions in the “Republican Pledge To America,” but even by Washington, D.C. standards, this document is staggeringly disingenuous. Not once in the entire 48-page screed do Republicans mention the words “Wall Street,” “subprime,” or “foreclosure.” It’s a deliberate effort to obscure the fact that today’s economic mess […]
Today’s absurd William Cohan column actually argues that we don’t need consumer protections in banking—nevermind the subprime explosion, the $8 trillion dollar housing bubble or the 1.2 million foreclosures expected this year. Nevermind the $38 billion in overdraft fees the banking industry reaped in 2009, or the ridiculous fine-print on credit cards. Nope, in William […]
Of the universal-policy-bloggers who occasionally wade into financial waters, Matt Yglesias is generally one of the best. But sometimes he’s just flat wrong, and his post today on financial profits is one of those times. Matt argues that looking to financial profits to measure the effectiveness of Wall Street reform is not a good idea, […]
A full 90 members of Congress who voted to bailout Wall Street in 2008 failed to support financial reform reining in the banks that drove our economy off a cliff. But when you examine campaign contribution data, it’s really no surprise that these particular lawmakers voted to mortgage our economic future to Big Finance: This […]
I agree with everything Paul Krugman has to say about Max Abelson’s excellent run-down of the Wall Street whinery, but his critique stops a little too short. Abelson’s piece emphasizes that Wall Street isn’t really upset about any policies the Obama administration has adopted, since, as I and many others have noted, the Obama administration […]
Larry Summers is out, and President Barack Obama now faces a critical decision. He can focus on policy, naming a replacement who wants to ease the economic strains on American households, or he can focus on politics, naming a candidate who appeases the corporate executive class and their backers in the Republican Party. The choice […]
Over at bloggingheads, my CAF colleague Bill Scher discusses the new international banking standards with Conn Carroll, a conservative blogger for The Heritage Foundation. Carroll actually agrees with a lot of what I have to say about Basel III, but I he draws conclusions from my post that overemphasize the role of regulation and ignore […]
Reports are conflicting, details are uncertain, the White House isn’t talking on-the-record, and after a confusing evening, it’s still unclear exactly what is going on with Elizabeth Warren’s next job. In one sense, it looks like President Barack Obama is pulling out all the stops to get Warren running the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. In […]
ABC News is reporting that President Barack Obama will appoint Elizabeth Warren to a “special advisory” position to set up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. We don’t know the details, but so far, this seems very suspicious. As I wrote yesterday, Obama has several options for getting Warren into the CFPB slot if he wants […]
It’s been two days, and the new Basel III bank regulations are still lousy. Martin Wolf slams the international banking accord here and Yves Smith agrees here, although Felix Salmon notes some improvements over the current banking regime here and Tim Fernholz offers a full-throated cheer for the new rules here. What makes the new […]