Too often, government policies designed to ameliorate a general problem merely benefit a special interest. A case in point, highlighted by Binyamin Applebaum on the Economix blog, is the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP). HARP is part of the complex federal effort to stabilize the home mortgage market and stem the flood of foreclosures, and […]
JPMorgan Chase’s $2 billion trading loss is top news nationwide. But over at the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), such losses are business as usual. USPS reported a typical (for it) $3.2 billion loss for the most recent quarter. Try that comparison on for size. JPMorgan Chase incurred a “whale” of a loss because, as explained […]
JPMorgan Chase’s announcement that it has lost $2 billion in a failed hedge strategy sent shock waves through the financial world yesterday. And in Washington, the reaction has had a political tone, with calls to accelerate adoption of the “Volcker Rule” limiting investments by banks. But policymakers should take a breath before taking out the […]
Dr. Jim Yong Kim, the U.S. nominee for the next chief of the World Bank, has been on a “global listening tour.” Kim’s meet-and-greet tour has been billed as an opportunity “to solicit input and ideas on priorities for the World Bank.” Before embarking his expedition, Kim penned an op-ed noting that “every country must […]
The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, or SWIFT, announced Thursday that it is cutting off some 30 Iranian banks and subsidiaries from its network, as part of global efforts to punish Iran for its nuclear weapons program. The banks punished are the ones that have already been hit by European Union sanctions. Some other […]
There were plenty of lessons to learn after the financial crisis of 2008. Unfortunately, neither Congress nor the Obama Administration was willing to take the time to learn them. Instead, they acted before they understood the causes of the crash or what to do to avoid similar bailouts in the future. The result was the […]
Iceland is in a true recovery, the their bond rating was raised in a world where everyone’s is being down graded. They let their banks fail and let losses be recognized by those who made the bad bets. They didn’t saddle their citizens with billions (trillions being the U.S. equivalent) of losses. They let capitalism […]
Iran continues to claim it is reaping the rewards of European sanctions even amid a deep currency crisis that rocks Tehran. In fact, the oil ministry in Tehran claims the embargo would leave Iran unscathed while inflicting “heavy economic loss” on the “people of Europe, who have been affected by crisis”. The result would be […]
Two of 13 “demands” posted on the website of the Occupy Wall Street protesters Sept. 25 were for “free college education” and for forgiving student loans (and all other debts.) This wasn’t an “official” list, OWS said. But a survey of 200 protesters by Democratic pollster and Fox analyst Douglas Schoen indicated widespread support for […]
Saudi hacker “0xOmar,” who succeeded in hijacking at least 15,000 Israeli credit card numbers, published the details of 11,000 more cards Thursday. More than half of these are out of date, however. “A stupid Israeli student claims that we only leaked 14,000 cards, yet just one of the files [stolen] includes 27,000 working numbers,” the […]
