I just have to quote this WSJ article in full…
House Financial Services Committee hearing, Sept. 10, 2003:
Rep. Barney Frank (D., Mass.): I worry, frankly, that there’s a tension here. The more people, in my judgment, exaggerate a threat of safety and soundness, the more people conjure up the possibility of serious financial losses to the Treasury, which I do not see. I think we see entities that are fundamentally sound financially and withstand some of the disaster scenarios. . . .
The only stock up on my screen after the House rejected the Paulson (modified) plan is SWHC. Scary.
And here is the always insightful Greg Mankiw:
Senator Obama might want to read this NY Times article from 1999:
In a move that could help increase home ownership rates among minorities and low-income consumers, the Fannie Mae Corporation is easing [...]
Taking Revenge on the Rich Will Not Bring Recovery
Police short sales and block them, says Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox. Fire the SEC chairman, says John McCain. Investigate those short sellers, say state attorneys general. Hold hearings to grill Wall Streeters says Nancy Pelosi. “Fire the whole Trickle-Down, On-Your-Own, Look-the-Other-Way crowd” says Barack Obama, and “get rid of this whole do-nothing approach to our economic problems.” The Democratic presidential candidate wants public affirmation of his argument that the whole free-market philosophy of economics has been wrong.
Some of this talk carries an implicit suggestion: Do what I say or we will have another Great Depression. And no wonder: This September feels a lot like autumn 1929.
But there’s an important fallacy here. The stock market crash of October 1929 and the Great Depression were not the same thing. What made the depression great was not magnitude but duration — the fact that unemployment was still 20% 10 years later. In the 1930s, policies like the ones described above did not speed recovery; they impeded it.
Continue reading Remember History
Did the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (ie the repeal of Glass-Steagall) cause the financial crisis?
No. And here is [...]
People often ask me what I learned from my Philosophy & Economics degree. I respond that I learned a lot useful material - but the most beneficial and important take-a-way is not what I know but how I think. A classic example of how economics teaches you to think (or, more accurately, analyze) is the following great post by [...]
Colombia Tariff Ticker Your browser does not support iframes. Please visit Trade.gov to view the Colombia Tariff [...]
Two blog recommendations, one serious and one not. I’ll let you figure out which is which:
1) Ben Bernake’s Blog (this post is a good example)
2) Greg Mankiw’s Blog (this post is a [...]
![[What They Said]](http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/images/OB-CL179_oj_fan_D_20081001201356.jpg)
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