Archive for November, 2010

The EU Tries To Save Ireland And Itself

Well, Act l of the Irish soap opera appears to have concluded today.  As expected, the EU and various other European states stepped up to provide a fistful of money for Ireland to finance its ongoing borrowing requirements and to once more try and recapitalize and fix its banking system. The Business Insider and Joe […]

Rent Seeking Alert

In case you think rent seeking is confined to the big boys, here’s a case in which the small fry are learning their lessons well. It’s from a blog called The Private Equity Reader. Thanks to a small tip from PEHub, I learned that more and more buyout shops (including a prominent one, The Riverside Company) […]

Black Friday Disappoints

According to the WSJ, Black Friday wasn’t as big a hit as the traffic numbers suggest. Black Friday sales rose only slightly from a year ago even though more shoppers visited stores, retail traffic monitor ShopperTrak said Saturday, setting the stage for another uncertain holiday season for retailers. Sales increased 0.3% to $10.7 billion, according […]

Ireland: Just The First Car To Go Off The Tracks

I’ll admit to it if you will as well. I’m fascinated by the falling dominoes in Europe. It’s like watching a train wreck happening in slow motion while various commentators tell you what you’re seeing isn’t really happening. Some of the better thoughts on the subject include: Tyler Cowen: In a nutshell, we’re watching the […]

Who Gets Second Chances?

Evidently hard times haven’t made some people any more charitable towards their fellow citizens. From the WSJ: Bankruptcy is still something of a scarlet letter even though a lot more Americans are seeking to shed their debts in court. Some $588 billion in consumer loans were wiped out in the past two years — both […]

The Price Of TARP’s Success

Brad Schaeffer, a conservative energy company executive, makes perhaps the most reasonable defense of TARP that I have seen. He compares the banking crisis to the fall of Enron and the panic that ensued in energy markets at that time and concludes that a private solution such as the one that rescued energy wouldn’t have […]

Economic Recovery Looking A Bit More Solid

I’ve had a brush with a touch of pneumonia, hence blogging has taken a back seat to healing. Good drugs have helped turn the corner so I’ll try and get back to some semblance of regular posting. Anyway, there were a couple of fairly positive economic reports over the past few days that would seem […]