Economy Blog

Lengthy discussion with ex-Fed head Paul Volcker on Charlie Rose last night. As a side note, Peter Thiel is on Rose tonight.
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Original Source: feedproxy.google.com

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Original Source: www.crossingwallstreet.com

This is market is worse than a divorce. I’ve lost half my net worth, yet I still have my wife.        — Source: Anonymous. (I was sent it today by someone who overheard it, but wants to remain unidentified.)
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Original Source: feedproxy.google.com

Why am I not reassured by Hank Paulson’s latest press conference?

"We’re going to do it as soon as we can do it and do it properly and do it effectively and right," Paulson said. "Trust me, we are not wasting time; people are working around the clock to deal with this." …
Responding to a question, Paulson said markets may "have some volatility for a while" and "this is about confidence."
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Original Source: www.portfolio.com

Today, NPR News visited Garret Capping’s US Government class to hear how the financial crisis is being addressed in the government’s schools.

Capping asks his students, “In a nutshell, what would you say caused the financial crisis that we have today?”

Three students parrot the party line:

S…
Original Source: blog.mises.org

Today, NPR News visited Garret Capping’s US Government class in Portland, Oregon, to hear how the financial crisis is being addressed in the government’s schools.

Capping asks his students, “In a nutshell, what would you say caused the financial crisis that we have today”

Three students parrot the party line:
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Original Source: blog.mises.org

This is truly an awful op ed from today’s WSJ. I am hoping that a bunch of us can write Letters to the Editor, so maybe one of ours will get published. The writer claims that our periodic banking panics are the fault of Thomas Jefferson, because he didn’t understand commerce and hated rich people, and thus killed (through his disciples) a strong central bank that could prevent crises. Oh, the writer also explains Jefferson got these weird views because he grew up on the backs of slaves….
Original Source: blog.mises.org

True or not, and probably and surely not, all you need to know is that this rumor had some plausibility to it.

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The White House denied Friday that it had any intention of closing financial markets. “There are absolutely no plans or discussions to interfere with the functioning of markets in the United States,” White House spokesman Tony Fratto said in an email message. Earlier Friday, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi had given conflicting statements about the possibility. He first told reporters that the idea of financial leaders closing markets was on the table, but he later told reporters that his only knowlege of such plans came from reading media accounts of the financial crisis. Berlusconi also said that G8 leaders may have a meeting to discuss the crisis in coming days
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Original Source: blog.mises.org

U.S. Treasury Secretary Paulson said he and his Group of Seven counterparts had agreed to an “aggressive” plan to deal with a financial turmoil that has quickly ballooned into a “global event.” While the U.S. has come up with its own bank rescue plan, Paulson said other countries are considering options appropriate to their own situations. The $700 billion U.S. rescue plan will be used not only to buy and insure mortgage assets, but to buy equity in financial institutions, he said. “We are working to develop a standardized program that is open to a broad array of financial institutions,” Paulson said. Here is the text of his statment:…
Original Source: feeds.wsjonline.com

On the eve of the annual meeting of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, there was barely a protestor in sight. Early in the morning, a pink van unloaded several people dressed in pink a few blocks from the headquarters buildings, but they were preparing to protest the financial bailout, not the World Bank of IMF. So was another guy, standing near a candy stall, carrying a tray, which one supposes was a metaphor for all the money that he?d like the government to place in it.
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Original Source: feeds.wsjonline.com

The U.S. and its closest allies agreed on common guidelines to address the world financial crisis, a move that opens the way for a series of government actions, but falls short of the joint plan that many investors had sought. Here is the text of the G-7 statement released shortly after at 6 p.m. ET
G-7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors
Plan of Action
Washington? The G-7 agrees today that the current situation calls for urgent and exceptional action. We commit to continue working together to stabilize financial markets and restore the flow of credit, to support global economic growth. We agree to:
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Original Source: feeds.wsjonline.com

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Original Source: www.pheedo.com

G-7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors

Plan of Action

Washington– The G-7 agrees today that the current situation calls for urgent and exceptional action. We commit to continue working together to stabilize financial markets and restore the flow of credit, to support global economic growth. We agree to:

1. Take decisive action and use all available tools to support systemically important financial institutions and prevent their failure.
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Original Source: www.pheedo.com

(October 10, 2008 04:46 PM, by Arnold Kling) It is natural to look at the collapse of stock prices and say, "See? Social Security privatization would be a disaster." But consider two possibilities: 1. The market is down because future U.S. wealth is down. In that case, government-provided……
Original Source: econlog.econlib.org

A programmer for the trading desk at an electronic foreign-exchange and equity network was smoking outside a financial office in Jersey City, N.J., around 6 p.m. Thursday. The man was red in the face and glassy-eyed from exhaustion. “Look at me,” he said. “It’s a flush. It’s a panic….
Original Source: feeds.wsjonline.com

We have it on very good authority that on Wednesday in Stamford, Steve Cohen told his trading floor, “You’re all idiots. We’re going to cash. I’ll see you in January.” They are not closing down; just sitting out the bull shit. No follow-up joke. Because it’s apparently true.

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Original Source: www.pheedo.com

The last hour of activity Friday, when buyers finally emerged from their slumber, has helped erase some of the day’s massive losses. Needless to say, the market is still experiencing a so-called oversold condition, where various technical and sentiment-related indicators suggest buyers should be asserting themselves.
The market has a l…
Original Source: feeds.wsjonline.com

The financial crisis is clearly weighing on the U.S.’s biggest companies, but small businesses are feeling a greater pinch as well.

Small businesses suffer amid the financial crisis. (Getty Images)

Some 18% of small-business owners tell an A…
Original Source: feeds.wsjonline.com

(October 10, 2008 03:55 PM, by Arnold Kling) Do you like prediction markets as much as Bryan and Robin? Then try Pop!Tech prediction market…….
Original Source: econlog.econlib.org

I have been so crazy busy working on EVERYTHING — the office, the market, the blog and the book — that FNJ is one of the things that fell thru the cracks. …
Original Source: feedproxy.google.com