Here we go again./ The US suffered from a near catastrophic housing price bubble burst in 2008 and home prices kept falling until 2012. That is, until The Federal Reserve unleashed its third round …
Banking & Finance
Banking & Finance, Government Spending
Clinton Gets It Right on Big Banks
Link
“Yeah, the Federal Reserve and the Feds have made all the right moves. Good grief….”
Report: 1 In 4 US Homes Worth Less Than A Year Ago @ AgainstCronyCapitalism.org
Banking & Finance, Ex-Im Bank, Government Spending
Illogic in Support of the Ex-Im Bank
From a letter to Forbes:
So I’ve a question: why does Ex-Im need government reauthorization? If it receives no money from taxpayers – indeed, if it turns such a profit that it “gives them money” – surely private investors will eagerly seize the opportunity to serve the profitable markets that Ex-Im has abandoned.
Mr. Brinkley answers that markets served by Ex-Im are too risky for private banks. But this answer makes no sense if Mr. Brinkley is correct in asserting that Ex-Im receives no money from taxpayers. Loan portfolios that are so risky that they require taxpayer backing are by their nature loan portfolios that over time are not profitable; they are loan portfolios that do not repay lenders adequate returns on their loans. The very need for taxpayer backing of such loans implies that taxpayers are destined to cover losses on, rather than to reap profits from, these loans.
In short, Mr. Brinkley’s case for reauthorizing Ex-Im is a hopelessly illogical muddle, for it asserts that Ex-Im is simultaneously profitable and unprofitable. A government agency that must be defended by such twisted thinking is surely one that ought to be shuttered permanently.
Via It’s Always In the Black (Except When It’s In the Red) @ Cafe Hayek.
Banking & Finance, Federal Government, Federal Reserve, Regulations
Easy Tests
Link
Banking & Finance, Business, Crony Capitalism, Cronyism, Ex-Im Bank, Federal Government, Government Spending
Corporate Welfare
Banking & Finance, Business, Crony Capitalism, Cronyism, Federal Government, Government Spending
Fallacies of the Ex-Im Bank
“Ex-Im Bank’s supporters claim that ending Ex-Im Bank would deprive Americans of all the jobs and economic growth created by the recipients of Ex-Im Bank aid. This claim is a version of the economic fallacy of that which is not seen. The products exported and the people employed by businesses benefiting from Ex-Im Bank are…
Banking & Finance, Business, Crony Capitalism, Federal Government, Free Markets, GOP, Government Spending
If the GOP Congressional Majority Can’t Kill the Ex-Im Bank, It Can’t Do Anything Worth Doing
With control of both houses of Congress, the GOP has no excuse whatever on the question of killing the corporatist Export-Import Bank. The House failed to kill the bank in 2014, keeping a big-corporation slush fund (‘long-term loan guarantees’) alive in ’15. So here we are, with the GOP possessing majorities in both federal legislative…
Banking & Finance, China, Economy, Planning, State Capitalism
The $91-Billion-Dollar Example of Failed State Capitalism (Chinese Edition)
One illustration, of many available: CAOFEIDIAN, China— A $91 billion industrial project here, mired in debt and unfulfilled promise, suggests part of the reason why China’s economy is wobbling – and why it will be hard to turn around. The steel mill at the heart of Caofeidian, which is outside the city of Tangshan, about…
Banking & Finance, China, Government Spending, State Capitalism, State Planning
Reality Creeps up on Chinese State-Capitalism
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard writes about the Chinese government’s (publicly) dismissive reply to an International Monetary Fund warning about Chinese debt-fueled over-investment. A single sentence serves as an executive summary: All those extrapolation charts of a Chinese-led planet that enthralled us all in the BRICS hysteria of 2008 will look very silly indeed, unless China heeds the…
Banking & Finance, China, Crony Capitalism, Government Spending, State Planning
GDP Data in State-Capitalist China: Often Bogus, Often a Distraction from Underlying, Systemic Weakness
William Pesek has it right about state-capitalist, investment over-intensive China. First, Chinese GDP and other metrics are simply dodgy: Even in the best of times, China’s data can be about as accurate as tossing a dart at a chart on the wall. It’s a structurally imbalanced economy distorted by top-down policies and considerable “gray activities”…
Banking & Finance, Business, Economy
National Foreclosure Filings Drop to Five-Year Low
Banking & Finance, Economy, Federal Government, Open Government
Why audit the Fed?
Banking & Finance, Economy, Foreign Affairs
EU officials admit that Greece will need more debt restructuring
“Greece is hugely off track,” one of the officials told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. “The debt-sustainability analysis will be pretty terrible.” Another official pointed to the latest growth estimates from Athens, which show the economy contracting by 7 percent this year rather than the 5 percent…
Banking & Finance, Crony Capitalism, Federal Government
The Cronyism Behind Discount VIP Loans for Congressmen
Banking & Finance, Cato, Government Spending, Taxes
How Government Discourages Savings
One often hears that Americans don’t save enough, but why is that? For a few, it’s probably the consequence of spending too much, conspicuously, to keep up appearances. For most people, though, that’s not true: the percentage of lavish, status-conscious spenders is a small part of most communities. One of the reasons Americans don’t save…