Those who blame the Fed for keeping interest rates too low too long have to explain why Canada, which basically had the same interest rate experience we did, didnt have anything like the same problems. So whats Canadas secret? Regulation, regulation, regulation. Much stricter limits on leverage, much stricter limits on unconventional mortgages, and an… Continue reading Worthwhile Canadian Example
Category: economics
Tie CO2 Tax to Temperature
John Tierney relays today what seems like a very sensible idea from economist Ross McKitrick, tie a carbon tax to the temperature. If the temperature rises the tax goes up, if the temperature does not rise (as McKitrick, a climate change skeptic thinks) the tax will stay at a low level. Temperature of the troposphere… Continue reading Tie CO2 Tax to Temperature
Henry Blodget explains how to make a billion dollars
So here’s how to make the world’s easiest $1 billion: STEP 1: Form a bank. STEP 2: Round up a bunch of unemployed friends to be “bankers.” STEP 3: Raise $1 billion of equity. (This is the only tricky step. And it’s not that tricky. See below.*) STEP 4: Borrow $9 billion from the Fed… Continue reading Henry Blodget explains how to make a billion dollars
An Affordable Truth
Why should you believe that cutting emissions is affordable? First, because financial incentives work. Action on climate, if it happens, will take the form of cap and trade: businesses wont be told what to produce or how, but they will have to buy permits to cover their emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.… Continue reading An Affordable Truth
Somali Pirates Open Up a “Stock Exchange”
‘Four months ago, during the monsoon rains, we decided to set up this stock exchange. We started with 15 “maritime companies” and now we are hosting 72. Ten of them have so far been successful at hijacking,’ Mohammed [a wealthy former pirate who took a Reuters reporter to the facility] said Somali Pirates Open Up… Continue reading Somali Pirates Open Up a “Stock Exchange”
Treasury Invites Bloggers to Round Table
Mr. Geithner, the Treasury secretary, was among the senior officials who talked with bloggers at an outreach session on Nov. 2. The two-hour round table was held on background, meaning that the bloggers could describe the sessions, but not attribute quotes to specific officials. Lengthy posts about financial system reforms — and the bloggers’ disagreements… Continue reading Treasury Invites Bloggers to Round Table
Healthcare Reform
There’s nothing “sure or quick” about changing medical liability laws that will improve healthcare or its costs. Defensive medicine adds very little to healthcare’s price tag, and rising malpractice premiums have had very little impact on access to care. From Healthcare Reform – Salon.com Of course it won’t. And it hasn’t. So far, there have… Continue reading Healthcare Reform
Taxes vs Voucher Socialism
Instead of being paid to deliver planes, missiles and tanks, defense contractors would receive “weapon supply tax credits” (WSTC). The defense contractors would be able to reduce the taxes they owed the federal government by the prices of the weapons they delivered. Because the tax credit would be refundable, if the prices exceeded a firm’s… Continue reading Taxes vs Voucher Socialism
TARP could have cost taxpayers $700 billion. Now it looks like it might break even
As we approach the one-year anniversary of the Panic of 2008, it’s clear that the actual cost of the TARP will be a fraction of the original $700 billion estimate and that taxpayers are even turning a profit from the central component of the package. From Slate: TARP could have cost taxpayers $700 billion I… Continue reading TARP could have cost taxpayers $700 billion. Now it looks like it might break even
Mass. bashers take note: Health reform is working
PUNDITS and politicians who oppose universal healthcare for the nation have a new straw man to kick around – the Massachusetts reform plan that covers more than 97 percent of the states residents. In the myth that these critics have manufactured, this state’s plan is bleeding taxpayers dry, creating nothing less than a medical Big… Continue reading Mass. bashers take note: Health reform is working