The Canadian Lesson on Sound Banking

The default belief  of our economic history of the last 100 years has been an acceptance of the dynamic growth of capitalism punctuated by excesses of market greed that have to be corrected by the singular wisdom of government regulation. On closer examination many of...

Wasting a Crisis

In the Wall Street Journal, Culprits From Beltway Casting- The financial inquiry commission lets a crisis go to waste, (subscription required), takes exception to the partisan conclusion of the commission.    The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission reached a...

Political Greed and Crony Capitalism

Ever since Michael Douglas’s character Gordon Gekko in the movie Wall Street declared “Greed is Good” capitalism has been cast in a sinister role that it has yet to overcome. The movie speech was rumored to be taken from a speech given by Ivan Boesky at a college...

Inflating the Green Bubble

Studying the financial bubbles we can see several common characteristics. During the bubble inflation we see markets taken to an extreme by financial greed, but as Walter Sowell so appropriately metaphored on the housing bubble, “blaming the crash on greed is...

Absolving Fannie and Freddie

In a New York Times Article Paul Krugman took exception to another who laid blame for the financial crisis on Fannie Mae.  In Contending with Paul Krugman, part II, Charles Lane takes exception to Krugman. An excerpt: What is the point of trying to absolve Fan-Fred in...