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A Conservative Case for Welfare State
Former Bush II advisor Bruce Bartlett: Historically, it has been conservatives like the 19th century chancellor of Germany, Otto von Bismarck, who established the welfare state in Europe. They did so...
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Happy New Year!
I want to wish everyone who reads this blog a very Happy New Year! Also, I’d like to speculate about what the new year might bring in areas that I follow closely: politics and economics. If the fiscal...
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What just happened.
I sense some confusion both on the left and the right about the fiscal deal that just passed Senate and the House. Some people are asking me: is it good or bad and who won? The palpable consensus...
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Eunuchs of the Universe
Tom Wolfe is the next Matt Taibbi. Great weekend read. Tom Wolfe, who coined the term Masters of the Universe, writes a biting parody on his own creation. I actually met him at a party a few years ago....
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The coin and the IOUs
For the last several days a number of possible solutions to the debt limit poped up in the blogosphere. The $1 trillion coin. Pros: It’s a simple and elegant solution to circumvent the Republicans in...
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Why there are no shootings on Wall Street?
Why have no one ever gone postal on Wall Street? Is it not a back-stabbing, competitive, survival of the fittest shark tank? How many were passed over for promotion or stiffed around the bonus time?...
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Is David Mamet a Brain-Dead Conservative Now?
Liberalism is not at fault for making David Mamet into a brain-dead liberal before his epiphany a few years ago. If one considers himself, with or without jest, to be a “brain-dead liberal” it’s only a...
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Krugman Again
Excellent analysis in today’s HuffPo. Some of my readers know that when it comes to inflation and the deficit – the biggest concerns of CNBC talking heads, WSJ editorial page and conservatives in...
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Why laissez-faire advocates are wrong to resist regulations.
My critique of unregulated markets does not stem from the fact that I long for a planned economy. Quite the contrary: I criticize the unregulated markets because their occasional failures revive the...
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Some conflicted professor has advice for Keynesians.
A confused professor thinks we, Keynesians, don’t understand Keynes at all. He thinks we think Keynes advocated for planned economy and proceeds to demonstrate that Keynes was at times a supporter of...
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How Capitalism Creates The Welfare State
Reblogged from The Dish: The two concepts are usually seen in complete opposition in our political discourse. The more capitalism and wealth, the familiar argument goes, the better able we are to do...
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Risk Taking and Finger Length (off topic)
This article explains everything! “As strange as it may sound, the ratio of index to ring finger correlates with traits such as spatial ability, risk-taking, and assertiveness. It’s connected to...
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Another Conservative Supports Welfare Programs
First Bruce Bartlett, then Ramesh Ponnuru, and now David Frum via Ed Morrissey. Conservative intellectuals are reassessing their stance on welfare. Turns out it’s not such a bad thing at all. In some...
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Inflation of Labor
Republicans now are rediscovering the “middle class”. Rubio made sure to make “middle class” the focus of his SOTU reply. It’s a welcome about face in a party that just a few months ago was celebrating...
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Ben Bernanke is vindicated.
On the pages of WSJ, no less. I have been one of the biggest supporters of Bernanke (here, here and here) in terms of both the remedies he used in the aftermath of the crisis and, as an extention,...
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Twenty money-saving tips from bankers and their wives
Reblogged from eFinancialCareers: If you want ways of saving money, an investment banker may not seem the best source of advice. Believe it or not, however, bankers are changing their spending habits...
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Jamie Dimon Should Embrace TBTF reform (My new article in the American Banker)
Here’s my new take on TBTF problem. To summarize, to embrace the TBTF reform is a winning issue for Jamie Dimon. It has a limited downside/unlimited upside an has a potential to repair his tarnished...
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Follow Up on Jamie Dimon and TBTF.
Perhaps, I overestimated Jamie Dimon’s ability to recognize what the correct play is under certain circumstances. This is a poker term, and for poker players “correct play” carries almost religious...
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Preempt the Fed
As I was doing some research on my follow up article for Am. Banker I began to look at the TBTF problem from a much higher view. The dysfunction of our institutions, of all the government and private...
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Big Banks should Deleverage or Perish (My follow up in Am. Banker)
Big Banks should deleverage or perish. But there’s a bright side, albeit with a cruel irony, to such institutional failure. If we’re powerless to break up the banks, then we’re also powerless to bail...
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