From Rasmussen Reports via Greg Mankiw’ blog: Only 53% of American adults believe capitalism is better than socialism. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 20% disagree and say socialism is better. Twenty-seven percent (27%) are not sure which is better…. Republicans – by an 11-to-1 margin – favor capitalism. Democrats are much […]
Archive for April 23rd, 2009
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Japan’s New Economic Structure
Posted by Tom Lindmark on April 23rd, 2009
The news that this post is built around is somewhat stale, I meant to get to it yesterday but bear with me because I think there are some subtle issues worth thinking about. First, Japan announced that it was paying foreign workers to go home. Really, I didn’t know that there were many workers in […]
Tags: Paulson Changes His Story
Posted by Tom Lindmark on April 23rd, 2009
According to CNBC, Henry Paulson has now said that the words he delivered to Ken Lewis were his own and did not come from Fed Chairman Bernanke. So, now we know one thing for sure. He’s either lying now or he lied to Andrew Cuomo. Update 3:25-The butt covering continues. This from Reuters: No one […]
Why FHFA May Be Overstating Housing Price Increases
Posted by Tom Lindmark on April 23rd, 2009
If your wonkish side was troubling you over the disparity between the Case-Shiller price index and the FHFA price index here’s the reason for the different results. From the WSJ Real Time Economics blog: “The FHFA uses the prices of homes backed by mortgages sold or guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, excluding refinances. That means it’s […]
European Banks Face Second Stress Wave
Posted by Tom Lindmark on April 23rd, 2009
One of the Sultans of Doom, Ambrose Evans-Pritchard actually has something positive to say about U.S. banks today. Mind you, it comes via a comparison with the sad plight of European banks, but, hey, we’ll take small positives anywhere we find them. In the Telegraph.co.uk he points out that the European banks like the American […]
Employment And Existing Home Sales-More Of The Same
Posted by Tom Lindmark on April 23rd, 2009
Existing home sales and the weekly labor report are both out today. Neither indicate much positive change. The four week moving average of new unemployment claims fell 12,000 to 646,750. This number needs to get to 600,000 or less to be viewed as a positive. Existing home sales for March fell 3.0% to 4.57 million […]
Paulson Says BofA’s Lewis Is Telling The Truth-Throws Bernanke Under The Bus
Posted by Tom Lindmark on April 23rd, 2009
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has released a letter with accompanying addenda that he sent to key Washington officials. In it he says that Henry Paulson essentially corroborated Ken Lewis’s testimony concerning the acquisition of Merrill Lynch. Paulson also testified that the threats made to Lewis concerning his replacement should the Merrill deal not be […]
