Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is one of the best advocates for the U.S. middle classes and he's also becoming new technology communication savvy. Bernie is online!
Firstly, he wrote a column on the Huffington Post on the financial crisis.
Here are his very simple main points and he has a tendency to introduce legislation to accompany his words.
Cap interest rates to 15%
Break up too big to fail institutions
Pass the "Audit the Fed" bill
Pretty simple huh? If an institution is too big to fail then maybe it's too big to exist? Stop consumer usary by plain making loan shark interest rates illegal. If we want to know what the Federal Reserve has done with $2 trillion, let's audit them.
Those of you who have studied the Great Depression will recognize the term "Begger Thy Neighbor". So after Germany did this, you have to ask yourself: why? Did they do it because they think the dollar will rise in value, and thus have to pay more for in the future? Or do they think the dollar will fall in value, and then they can pay less?
Even after the trillions of dollars in bailout money, credit is contracting at a record rate.
During the September 2nd week, U.S. commercial banks cut back on their commercial & industrial (C&I) loans by $10.3 billion; their real estate credit by a huge $15.3 billion; and their lines to consumers by $6.4 billion. In sum, $32 billion of banking sector lending evaporated during the week, bringing the total contraction to over $200 billion since the end of July. Not only is that unprecedented, but it is also a record decline in percent terms — down at over a 12% annual rate on a 13-week basis. Indeed, we have massive government stimulus that is still just patching a leaky boat, and the consensus economics community is trying to “sell” this idea to investors that credit typically lags the cycle.
It appears Obama is going to try to push financial regulatory reform again, although unfortunately the administration's plan wants to make the Federal Reserve a super regulator with expanded powers.
What is more interesting to note is how the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is attacking the Consumer Financial Protection Agency. Oh yes, lord forbid if there was regulation against ripping off the general public with credit cards, mortgages, banking fees and loans. (Note the Washington post got the agency title wrong as well as miscategorizes the Say on Pay Bill).
Because the United States showed just a little sign of life and challenged China's dumping of tires in yet another unfair trade practice, the main stream media screams absurdities.
What really happened? China was dumping tires to U.S. markets in order to destroy and capture yet another good by producing under cost, flooding the market to drive down prices temporarily and plain put U.S. tire makers out of business.
Tyler Cowen writes an general op-ed on how Poliics now runs the financial sector in Where Politics Don’t Belong:
President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned of the birth of a military-industrial complex. Today we have a financial-regulatory complex, and it has meant a consolidation of power and privilege. We’ve created a class of politically protected “too big to fail” institutions, and the current proposals for regulatory reform further cement this notion. Even more worrying, with so many explicit and implicit financial guarantees, we are courting a bigger financial crisis the next time something major goes wrong.
I call this the financial oligarchy or multinational corporations took over Washington D.C.
Cowen also notes the lastest deals with big business have turned off many who are in favor of health care reform.
We know you go home and stroke that GDP, salivating at the prospect of that magic number turning positive so you can deny all that is wrong with the economy...but Joseph Stiglitz just called you out:
Most governments make a fetish out of it. If you take one message out of our report, make it avoid GDP fetishism. The message is to encourage political leaders away from that.
So many things that are important to individuals are not included in GDP. There needs to be an array of numbers but we need to understand the role of each number. We may not be able to aggregate everything together.
The article cites examples, such as increased consumer debt contributing to GDP but not adding to economic output in reality.
Sponsored by Record Setting Productivity Numbers - Obviously all caused by technological advances, such as many unemployed people making funny videos and posting them on youtube.
Good Morning! Rise and Shine! Get that Cup O' Joe...
break out the O.J....hang out with the pooch...time to check out the Funnies!
The IMF Director gave an interview on the state of the financial crisis and global economy. Guess what? The crisis is not over.
The global economic crisis will continue and countries must do more to adopt financial market regulations, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn told a German magazine on Saturday.
"The global economic crisis will continue, even if Germany and France had some good figures in the second quarter," Strauss-Kahn was quoted as saying in an advance copy of an article to be published in Der Spiegel on Sunday.
Strauss-Kahn said he wanted to see more action from nations to curb bankers' pay and tighten capital requirements in the banking sector.
Maybe he's reading EP for we're saying that, most recently by this post.
It's Friday Night! Party Time! Time to relax, put your feet up on the couch, lay back, and watch some detailed videos on economic policy!
Remember all of that talk on shovel ready projects and infrastructure from the Stimulus? Remember it is estimated that only 3-5% is actually spent on infrastructure? Remember that our unemployment rate is 9.7% with no end in sight? Remember how these types of jobs, if given to Americans are above minimum wage and require skills? (See Probpublica, Eye on Stimulus for more details in addition to EP search)
It's Friday Night! Party Time! Time to relax, put your feet up on the couch, lay back, and watch some detailed videos on economic policy!
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