More than 40 percent of homeowners seeking help from the Obama administration’s flagship effort to rescue those at risk of foreclosure have dropped out of the program. The latest report on the program suggests foreclosures could rise in the second half of the year and weaken an ailing housing market.
Jobless benefits extension passes Senate test
July 20, 2010 By
More than 2.5 million unemployed Americans are one step closer to having their unemployment benefits restored.
D.C. Elites and ‘Real Americans’ Are More Similar Than You’d Think
July 20, 2010 By
A recent Politico poll has opened up “D.C. elites” to yet another round of criticism. They’re so unlike normal Americans, you see. Forty-nine percent of them think the country is heading in the right direction (versus 27 percent of the general population)
Reform Bill: Geithner to Inherit Sweeping Influence
July 16, 2010 By
The dramatic expansion of financial regulation approved by Congress this week bears the stamp of no one more than Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner and gives him vast powers to determine the final form of the new rules.
W.House eyes Elizabeth Warren for New Consumer Watchdog
July 16, 2010 By
Elizabeth Warren, an outspoken consumer rights advocate feared by Wall Street, is among top contenders to head a new financial consumer watchdog bureau, sources
Do conservatives care about the deficit? Do Democrats?
July 16, 2010 By
Matt Yglesias asks the question and assembles some evidence. The two modern conservative presidents, George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan, “both presided over massive increases in both present and projected deficits.”
Yin/Yang at the Federal Reserve
March 22, 2010 By 3 Comments
Several months ago I supported Ben Bernanke when his re-nomination as Chairman of the Fed came under fire. While others such as Simon Johnson called for his removal, I wrote that I instead wanted to see more focus on systemic incentives. Put a bit differently, I believed we were being more reactive in our approach to the financial crisis than pragmatic about how thousands of mostly well-meaning citizens — both public and private — could have made such collective decisions as led to collapse.
This remains a key issue in need of attention, and it requires deep thinking about whether assumptions used to pass legislation over the past 40 years still hold.
Where Elizabeth Warren Got It Wrong
February 9, 2010 By 8 Comments
I adore Elizabeth Warren and consider her one of the more courageous policy leaders in Washington today. Her simple, prescient toaster metaphors of 2007 (which I’ve previously mentioned) were brilliant.
However, in her most recent Wall Street Journal Op-Ed, “Wall Street’s Race to the Bottom,” I believe Professor Warren makes unfortunate leaps that weaken her purpose and give credence (if not, outright strength) to the destructive ongoing debate around financial regulation. This debate continues to paralyze our political system, change nothing about the underlying causes of the crisis and offend just about everyone. As American citizens we need to hold our elected officials accountable to get something done now, or history is bound to repeat itself.
The Retro-Reacta-Tax: Lamenting Poor Term Sheets
January 15, 2010 By Leave a Comment
When $23.7 trillion in government programs were variously created to provide direct (and indirect) support to the financial system it seems everyone involved either conveniently forgot or didn’t know that firms lay aside 50%+ of revenue for compensation as standard operating procedure. If the goal was to allow banks to “earn” their way out of cataclysmic loss rather than to forcibly unwind them, the synthetic creation of bank revenue would lead to only one possibility with regards industry bonuses.
An Adversarial Relationship…The Missing Ingredient?
December 23, 2009 By 7 Comments
It is neither controversial that mistakes were made leading into the crisis nor that the Fed bears much responsibility. That said, I’m unclear the institution (or Bernanke) deserve such aggression as demonstrated in this article.
Instead of focusing on the Chairman, I’d like to see more interest in the system-wide incentives that drive the current structure. Arguably, almost anyone could have been chairman and the results would have been the same (or far worse).
Debating a New Role for the Fed
December 21, 2009 By Leave a Comment
CFR staff writer Roya Wolverson with a terrific overview of the debate.
Debating a New Role for the Fed
Author: Roya Wolverson, Staff Writer
Introduction
“It’s Certainly Not For A Lack Of Effort”
December 19, 2009 By Leave a Comment
The hubris case against bank CEOs has been made before in several flavors but the gist is always straightforward — essentially, proponents argue that bank CEOs haven’t shown nearly sufficient respect for responding to the President given circumstances. It’s hard to imagine there’s not at least some truth, and this is POTUS we’re talking about.
That said, circumstantial evidence doesn’t necessarily prove ill intent, it only implies it. I agree with Simon this was impolite to the maximum but I’m not as certain it will be anyone’s undoing (at least in the short term).
Paul Volcker Picks Up a Bat
December 17, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Volcker may not have the most prominent position in government these days, but it’s good to see another perspective in the debate at his level — hopefully our policy will come out more effectively as a result, whichever direction it takes.
Paul Volcker Picks Up A Bat
For most the past 12 months, Paul Volcker was sitting on the policy sidelines. He had impressive sounding job titles – member of President Obama’s Transition Economic Advisory Board immediately after last November’s election, and quickly named to head the new Economic Recovery Board.
Fed “Independence” is a Red Herring
December 15, 2009 By Leave a Comment
While I’d not go so far as the author in saying the Fed has done a terrible job (it truly hasn’t), I’ve already alluded to somewhat comparable questions about the Fed’s dual mandate. Whatever the structural considerations are, evidence has mounted that the FRB is not as independent as proponents claim.
Whether or not this is a good thing appears open to debate. Are independence and accountability somehow irreconcilable?
I don’t like political influence affecting my monetary stability but it seems that ship may have sailed.
Jason Paez (