Thoughts on the food crisis: "It is tempting to assume that the problem is purely one of supply and can be fixed by genetically modified plants or investment in a new “green revolution” to boost crop yields. The three most productive solutions, however, are all matters of policy." How long is your working week? Why…
How hunger could topple regimes. “When the history of the global banking crisis is finally written, the failure of the European Central Bank to prepare the ground for rate cuts in early 2008 will rank as a policy blunder of the first order,” says Damian Reece at The Telegraph. The recession may not be as…
Are private-equity firms calling the end of the credit crunch? Lewis Black Mocks Media, Celeb Endorsements. Extending your own life expectancy is the most selfish motive imaginable for doing anything, says Michael Kinsley at the New Yorker. The U.K. needs to rethink its ‘romantic’ energy policy or face disaster, says Ambrose Evans-Pritchard at The Telegraph.…
A survey shows that middle-class Americans are increasingly downbeat about their short-term economic progress. Don’t forget to read Ben Bernanke’s (fake) blog: Paul Volcker is an enemy of the U.S. economy. Do happiness and economic growth rise and fall together? This is one of the reasons why I will apply for U.S. citizenship if Barack…
The best of the web… Have you had enough of doom and gloom yet? Now for a bit of optimism… Some interesting thoughts on the shape of a (possible) U.S. recession. Yves Smith at Naked Capitalism rips into former Fed Chairman Greenspan. "When Richard Nixon tried to rehabilitate his reputation, he didn’t dispute the horrific…
Watch the video: Risk management group SBCC says writedowns at banks from the subprime crisis could total $500 billion dollars, double what has already been reported. Tanya Beder, speaking at the 2008 Reuters Hedge Fund and Private Equity Summit in New York on Monday, says the fallout from the mortgage meltdown may become more clear…
Anatole Kaletsky, a columnist at The London Times, argues that recession is unlikely if the U.S. economy gets through the next two crucial months. Looks like this is the end of the Spanish bull run. Ismael Clemente, head of Deutsche Bank’s property arm RREEF in Spain, told a panel of experts in Madrid that foreign…
Some interesting finds for thepanelist.net readers . . . There Is No Gas Shortage! But Washington, Wall Street, and ethanol and oil and gas companies want you to think there is, says automotive expert Ed Wallace. An expert asks an Ecuador court to fine Chevron up to $16 billion. Is the current financial crisis the…
A cartoon explaining why Mr. swashbuckling capitalist is so smart. Should you get ready for an era of lower returns for all of Wall Street? Rather than waging old debates about tax cuts versus spending increases, policymakers ought to be discussing how to reform the financial system so that it serves the rest of the…
A U.S.-based company that has controversially laid claim to nearly all of the Arctic Ocean’s undersea oil said Thursday that new geological data suggests a “potentially vast” petroleum resource of 400 billion barrels. As the election nears, the mainstream media, unable this time to make an issue out of Iraq, are focusing on the economy…
Just in case you are thinking about buying some beaten up stocks, remember that bear market rallies often delay the day of reckoning. Here are ten reasons why we should leave the euro/dollar exchange rate alone According to the survey of the financial services industry by the UK Confederation of British Industry and consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers,…
RGE Monitor’s Brad Setser argues that concerns about the dollar losing its status as global reserve currency may be overstated. He argues that rapid growth in total reserves probably means that recent months have seen a net increase in dollars held by foreign central banks. Britain and America may have less in common than is…
Larry Swedroe, Principal and Director of Research of BAM Advisor Services, explains why a bear market is a necessary evil. “The bottom line is that bear markets are necessary to the creation of the large equity risk premium we have experienced. Thus, if investors want stocks to provide high expected returns, bear markets, while painful…
Social networking will become a ubiquitous feature of online life. That does not mean it is a business, says The Economist. “Social networking may end up being everywhere, and yet nowhere.” Michael Skapinker at the Financial Times no longer believes in the markets self-healing power. “The US Federal Reserve is providing a $US30 billion safety…