On The Economic Populist you might have noticed the middle column. We try to list other sites and blogs who have exceptional insight and writing on what is happening in the U.S. economy.
Sometimes though, one cannot say it better but miss those who did. With that, EP is starting the infamous link post series, otherwise known as read this, did you see this? The title of the links series will be the title of this post with the date modified. With introductions over, onto the read this post!
Must Read #1
Over on Naked Capitalism is a guest post The Real Reason Giant Insolvent Banks are not Being Broken Up. He has a host of bullet points as to why the obvious hasn't happened and no, it's not because the governent's hands are tied. Just one quote:
This is from a quote from Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England. Here is the full quote:
It's the level, stupid -- it's not the growth rates, it's the levels that matter here
I got this quote from reading Mohamed El-Erian's article in the Financial Times. Dr. El-Erian coined the phrase the "New Normal" for economic growth. While I agree with his conclusion, I don't entirely agree with his analysis for the "New Normal".
The newest economic inequality numbers, which ran counter to the expectations of almost all experts, are frightening. Yesterday, the Associated Press released an article titled, US income gap widens as poor take hit in recession. The opening paragraph of the article, based on recent census data, reads:
The recession has hit middle-income and poor families hardest, widening the economic gap between the richest and poorest Americans as rippling job layoffs ravaged household budgets.
CFPA stands for the Consumer Financial Protection Agency. The Obama Administration, as part of its proposal for comprehensive financial regulatory reform (much needed), proposes the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Agency. The Consumer Financial Protection Act, the legislation that creates this new agency, strips away and consolidates the consumer protection duties and responsibilities of various existing federal regulators into one agency - the Consumer Financial Protection Agency. "The agency will be dedicated to looking out for American families when they take out loans or use other financial products or services – with a mission to promote access and protect consumers from unscrupulous practices across the market."
Needless, to say the financial conglomerates hate this idea and their friends in congress are out to kill it:
It's Friday Night! Party Time! Time to relax, put your feet up on the couch, lay back, and watch some detailed videos on economic policy!
This week we had a plea to forgive 3rd world debt by the G-20 countries meeting in Pittsburgh.
So, in honor of that perspective, this weeks video is the 1991 documentary, Life and Debt. It's a story of IMF policies at that time, the globalization agenda and use of IMF debt to achieve that end...at the expense of Jamaica and the people.
Volcker calls for the separation of banking from commerce and also calls for reforms in executive pay. He also calls for regulation of hedge funds and private equity firms. Volcker also implies that by saving the Zombie banks, the U.S. in fact has encouraged even worse risk taking and highlights these very questions so often written about on this site:
It's Friday Night! Party Time! Time to relax, put your feet up on the couch, lay back, and watch some detailed videos on economic policy!
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