Sour Grapes: Politicians launch scorched earth campaign against own city in...
It turns our that after the voters of Colorado Springs rejected a tax increase for the city, the city’s politicians ordered their public relations staffers to bad mouth the city and to cast a negative...
View ArticleHoenig criticizes Fed, Fed attempts to silence critics
As his retirement date approchaes, Kansas City Fed President Tom Hoenig has become increasingly critical of the Federal Reserve, the big banks, and quantitative easing. His recent comments on a trip to...
View ArticleThe Government Benefits Bubble
The New York times recently noted that “Economy Faces a Jolt as Benefit Checks Run Out.” Close to $2 of every $10 that went into Americans’ wallets last year were payments like jobless benefits, food...
View ArticleSteve Jobs, RIP
Steve Jobs, one of the most important entrepreneurs and innovators of both the 20th and 21st centuries, has died. Will he receive the sort of veneration reserved to politicians when they die? That’s...
View ArticleTeam owners: capitalism for thee but not for me
One of the benefits of the present depression is the fact that the voters are grumpier than usual. It’s hard to care about your carbon footprint when you don’t have a job, and it’s now even possible to...
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The homeownership rate is still too high
The AP reported today that the homeownership rate declined to 65.1 percent during 2010, which is “the biggest drop since the Great Depression.” However, in order to return to a more normal rate of...
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Deleveraging has barely begun
Housingwire today reports that bank risk managers still believe that excessive levels of mortgage debt, student loan debt and credit-card debt are still a serious risk. FICO drew that conclusion from a...
View ArticleSome Friday Links: “At worst, an orderly decline in the housing market”
The Wall Street Journal today notes the lack of prescience at the Federal Reserve prior to the crisis: “…But Mr. Bernanke described the cooling of the housing boom as a ‘healthy thing.’ ‘So far we are...
View ArticleTuesday Links: Banks ready for QE3
On Friday afternoon, CNBC hinted that QE3 may be imminent: Federal Reserve officials are seriously considering giving the US economy—and especially the housing market—an added jolt with more...
View ArticleThe best and most creative anti-SOPA protests
The Wash Post has a short list of some of the best anti-SOPA protests. Can readers do me a kindness and list some of the other good anti-SOPA protests out there? The more alarming or creative, the...
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Friday Links: Young people turn to rental housing
Housing starts remain at 15-year lows, bumping along near the same levels they reached in early 2009 following the financial crisis. MSNBC reported that the latest starts data capped off “a grim year”...
View ArticleFriday Links: Homeownership down, Century 21′s new friendly agent.
The Senate voted to ban executive bonuses at Fannie and Freddie. After buttering up the public for another round of quantitative easing, the buzz today (at CNN, Fin Times and the WSJ) is that the...
View ArticleTuesday Links: Banks Smell the Coffee, Malls Sit Empty
According to Bloomberg, banks are beginning to push short sales consistently for the first time since foreclosures began to pile up back in 2008. Prices really began to fall before the financial...
View ArticleFriday Links: Spanish real estate bust produces ghost towns
The real estate bust in Spain has produced a variety of apartment communities and similar properties that have turned into ghost towns as real estate demand has evaporated. See the link for photos. In...
View ArticleHillary to the World Bank?
Within minutes of Robert Zoellick’s announcement that he will leave the world bank being made public, Hillary Clinton announced that she was interested in the job. The World Bank has long been a...
View ArticleA few ways that governments distort food markets
Prices are increasing for land in the corn belt: Land values are uniformly rising throughout the Corn Belt and the Great Plains, thanks to farmers being the primary buyers and to the value of...
View ArticleMany Americans don’t pay income tax. Is this a bad thing?
Last week, the Heritage Foundation published commentary on the number of Americans who pay income tax, and decried the fact that 49.5 percent of Americans are “not represented on a taxable return.” The...
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Thursday Links: Fannie as repeat offender, FHA in need of cash, Bernanke...
Former “private corporation” Fannie Mae returns to the government trough yet again; this time to ask for an additional $4.6 billion. The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) raises premiums to shore up...
View ArticleOil and the Pentagon
Late last month, Bloomberg reported that British Petroleum continues to experience substantial growth in the amount of money it receives from the Pentagon for its oil services. From 2010 to 2011,...
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Friday Links: The Church Bubble, The Employment Trough, Sachs at World Bank?
It turns out Hillary Clinton was serious. She’s really not trying to get in at the World Bank. Jeffrey Sachs, on the other hand… Banks are foreclosing on Churches in record numbers. The causes are very...
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