Political Economy category archive

And this surprises us how?

Banks that are getting taxpayer bailouts awarded their top executives nearly $1.6 billion in salaries, bonuses, and other benefits last year, an Associated Press analysis reveals.

(snip)

The total amount given to nearly 600 executives would cover bailout costs for many of the 116 banks that have so far accepted tax dollars to boost their bottom lines.

If I did my arithmetic correctly, that works out to about $2,666,666.00 per incompetent empty suit.

So much for “pay for performance.”

Second Son is on his way to the show with a donation of canned goods.

Rich folks invest in hedge funds:

Hedge funds will be allowed to borrow from the Federal Reserve for the first time under a landmark $200bn programme intended to support consumer credit.

And the monied classes take care of their own.

Via the Booman Tribune.

When I had to refurnish my house after getting divorced, I refurnished it from resale stores.

Hunting through resale stores is fun. One doesn’t know what kind of treasure is lurking in that pile of stuff leaning against the wall over there.

Hunting through Raymour and Flannigan is not fun.

Now, everyone else loves resale stores too.

The disciples of Republican Economic Theory get to stand up in the dock for their faith.

And their behavior.

A former Lehman Brothers broker who gleaned tips about pending mergers from his wife, a partner at a high-powered public relations firm, was charged Thursday in a wide-ranging insider trading scheme that earned $4.8 million in profits for several people including a former Playboy model and two lawyers, authorities said.

No doubt there will be more to come.

Sadly, Alan Greenspan and the entire rotten Republican Party, their enablers, won’t be among them.

Dammit, this is why we need government.

Government is not the problem.

Republican government is the problem.

Competent government is the solution.

Bonddad (follow the link for the full analysis):

There is no good news in any of these releases. Simply put, manufacturing is in terrible shape.

No, not that green door, you lech you.

This green door.

Another wave, courtesy of the failed stewardship of the Republican Party:

Facing a drastic falloff in donations this year, the Philadelphia-area Toys for Tots campaign announced an “emergency toy rush” yesterday.

Contributions are down by nearly 20,000 toys compared with last year at this time, when about 40,000 toys had been collected, said Gunnery Sgt. Robert Putney, who leads the local effort for the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve.

Read about Philadelphia having to close libraries because, well, no income, no business transactions, no real estate value, no taxes. No taxes, no services.

Republican Economic Theory: Taxes are evil, therfore, let us screw the people so we can have our Bentleys.

Oh. Wait.

No Bentleys in the Big House.

Disgusting, sleazy, selfish, disgusting excuse for a political philosophy.

Pah!

Bonddad:

1.) The Fed has no interest rate moves left. This is it.

2.) The Fed is terrified about the economy.

Robert Reich, discussing the deflationary trend:

Rational consumers are starting to save whatever they can because they’re understandably worried about the future.

The sooner we have a major stimulus package, the better. The danger is that it will be too small.

Republican Economic Theory triumphant.

Housing stopped:

New starts dropped an eye-popping 18.9% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 625,000, the lowest since the Commerce Department began keeping records in 1959. According to similar records kept elsewhere, it’s the slowest pace of construction in the post-World War II period.

Starts were far lower than the 740,000 that economists surveyed by MarketWatch had been looking for. The monthly percentage drop was the most since a 26% decline in March 1984.

McClatchy:

It’s cheaper to fill up your car’s gas tank now than it was a year ago, but Americans are logging fewer miles on the road than in recent years.

Yeah. They’re taking transit to the unemployment office.

David Sirota sums it up.

Via Susie.

This is a must-listen. From the website:

We’re told that since consumer activity accounts for 70% of the economy we need to spend yet credit card interest rates are rising and Americans have lest cash to spend. We talk about consumer credit, how it is being impacted by our current economic woes and what the credit crisis means for the average American with Georgetown Law professor ADAM LEVITIN.

Go to the website and search for December 11, 2008, or listen here (Real).

Reuters:

Sales at U.S. retailers fell for a fifth straight month in November, the longest decline in at least 16 years, as gasoline sales tumbled by a record amount, according to government data on Friday.

Sales were down a much more modest 0.2 percent once gasoline sales were excluded as spending on other items, such as electronics, increased.

Meanwhile, down the hall, fourth door on the left, John Cole summarizes Repblican Economic Policy.

Atrios is somewhat more succint.

Fellating the rich, buggering the poor. It’s the Republican way.

Molly I. over at Eschaton sums it up:

Republicans to Detroit: if only you could figure out a way to pay your executives and not your workers, we might help you.

Addendum, Later That Same Day:

A former bankruptcy attorney speaks.

Addendum-de-dum-dum:

Bonddad, here.

Stiglitz.

Via Eschaton.

Grover Norquist on CNN. It’s an oldie but a moldie. Watch as the other panelists dissolve in laughter at his wingnut wankery:

Freakin’ fruitcakes.

H/T Ray who not yet written his hedgefund post for the link.

’nuff said:

Initial claims for state unemployment insurance benefits jumped by

58,000, the biggest increase since September 2005, to a seasonally adjusted 573,000 in the week ended December 6 from an upwardly revised 515,000 the previous week. That was the highest print since November 1982, when 612,000 workers submitted new claims for unemployment benefits.

Via the Booman.