I haven’t yet read Manias, Panics, and Crashes, published in 2000. But I came across a recommendation in the comments section of some blog the other day and found the title and the Amazon description rather intriguing: “[Manias, Panics, and … Continue reading →
CNBC has gotten to the point where the events it relates resemble a horror movie of the economic variety. Financial markets around the world reel, countries like Iceland are going bankrupt. Nobody seems to know what’s what, what’s next, or … Continue reading →
[See this for background.] I was contemplating just how it is that someone like Richard Fuld of Lehman can look himself in the mirror right now and not throw up. But I’ve got a hypothesis about people such as Fuld, … Continue reading →
I must be a glutton for punishment, because I’ve been glancing at MSNBC again. The tone of the talking heads there (maybe that’s a misnomer; some of them seem more like shouting heads) is frenetic and energized. They look like … Continue reading →
I’d much rather write about the Red Sox. They’re doing great, up two in the best of five series against the Angels. Watching the game last night reminded me of one of the many things that’s so wonderful about sports: … Continue reading →
Most of us are knowledgeable about the sort of financial information we need to get along in life okay. For example, how to balance a checkbook. We know what Social Security benefits we might be receiving someday, as well as … Continue reading →
I’ve been thinking lately of this old nursery rhyme, and its idea that there can be complex and far-reaching negative repercussions from lack of timely remedies that would really have been quite simple: For want of a nail the shoe … Continue reading →
I was awakened today as usual by my clock radio, which happened to be set on a talk show. Blah, blah, blah about the financial crisis, with some sort of Wall Street “expert” saying that this happened because of a … Continue reading →
…”years of irresponsible failure to regulate have led us” to this crisis. He fails to add the little detail that the “irresponsible failure to regulate” was his own, as Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, when he was the … Continue reading →
Are Obama and McCain playing politics right now? Of course they are; is the Pope Catholic? What’s far more interesting to me is how they’re playing, and what this reveals about their natures.
Continue reading →Bush’s speech last night was a good attempt to explain in relatively simple terms how we got here and what Bush thinks should be done. I’ve started to visualize the whole meltdown this way:
Continue reading →I know that a certain number of these bad mortgages were made in response to initiatives started in the 90s to allow low-income families who otherwise couldn’t afford homes to own them. But what percentage of the current crisis involves … Continue reading →