Special thanks for the music break. It saved a really crappy day.

LizinOregon

It is not really a mystery where the MF Global customer funds have gone. JP Morgon got $200 bil of it. I am sure the too big to failures have the rest. And no one will pay but the farmers who made the mistake of trusting their money to the designated market makers.

Chris Hayes took the wheeling and dealing to accomplish great things lesson away from the film and went to town with it over the weekend by comparing it to the compromises Obama made in the Affordable Care Act. I was not convinced.

I am so not convinced that someone who makes $110,000 a year needs a tax break. It is the top 20% after all.

Really with you on this one, DD. One exception to your indictment of the Fed board of that era would be Ned Gramlich who was valiantly spitting into the wind at the time. Worth a mention because one of their own was sounding the alarm and they still did nothing.

As a relatively new Oregon resident, I do like the time to ponder my choices with the ballots and info in front of me – especially the endless initiatives. But I do miss the feeling of community at the polling place. As a substitute I have been getting together with a small group of friends to watch the debates and talk about the issues. Should have done that before.

Thanks, Teddy, for pointing out you can check to see if your ballot has been received. I didn’t know that and just confirmed it.

Isn’t Menino a Dem? What took him so long?

LizinOregon

I would suggest a subsequent post on why you believe this new round of campaign promises given the near total fail on the last set.

LizinOregon

So now CBO is right?

David, I am disappointed with your one-sided reporting here. Do you have any proof these allegations are true other than the letter? Did you ask CBO for any comment? Did you go back and read their economic and budget reports issued at the time to see what assumptions they were using about the housing market? Or ask the CBO analysts responsible for housing to explain how the aftermath of the bubble is figuring into their forecasts? There is no evidence that you did. Instead you swallow her accusations whole and seem willing to impugn the reputation of an important agency based solely on the word of a disgruntled former employee with such a short tenure there.

BTW, I am not a CBO troll. I am often frustrated with their middle-of-the-road positions, but this is truly not fair.

In economic terms clearly the securitization fraud is larger than the systemic effort to cheat people out of their homes. Matt seems to think that is more important just because it involves a bigger penalty. But isn’t investigating and prosecuting this part of the crime just another bailout of the 1%? What about all of the people who have, and continue, to lose their homes? Is it fair that the most only some of them will get in compensation $1,800?

Why not do both with equal vigor?

My apologies if my comment sounded like a nit pick. I just wasn’t sure if David was making a distinction between GMU and the Mercatus Center as public institutions and mainly wanted to point out that GMU is public in case he didn’t know.

Regardless, this is a terrible development. Depressingly predictable. It is one thing to reduce government to get it off your back. It’s another to do it so that said broke govt. then comes hat in hand for your money so that you have even more control. Don’t know if that’s a bug, or a feature.

Actually, George Mason University is part of the Virginia state university system. Even if the who Mercatus Center is funded by the Koch’s, it is perceived to be part of the University. In fact, it’s economists are always identified as with the University and I don’t remember hearing any of them described as employees of the Mercatus Center.

Oregon just raised the ethanol requirement to 15% – so I guess the end of the subsidies means our gas prices will go up even more.

LizinOregon

New motto – “One millimeter at a time!”

Actions speak louder than words (to quote a prophet).

Calculated Risk states later in that piece that many of those who received a modification will default later. This is not simply another case of kicking the can down the road. Those subsequent defaults will be used to argue that HAMP failed because all government programs must fail, not because the banks gamed the system and Treasury failed to stop them.

I don’t see how it matters. The Fed clearly does not care about unemployment. Never has, and never will. As you said, QE2 is being done because they are also missing their inflation target, which is all they care about. So why not deal with reality and end the charade. Maybe if fiscal policy is the only tool available, there is a better chance it will be used.