The debt limit deal has finally made me understand Obama's motivation. For a while, I thought he was secretly a conservative, and didn't fight for liberal values because he didn't want them. But now I've realized that his actual motivation … [Read more...]
Why we shouldn’t legislate based on stock indices
Lots of people were panicking on Monday about how much the stock indices fell after the bailout bill failed. For reference, voting started at 1:30pm. At that time, most people were expecting it to pass. The futures prices move faster, so … [Read more...]
A Mortgage Workout Proposal
The first point is important because the absolute worst thing that could happen would be for the government to announce a plan that everybody wants to take part in. The banking crisis we have now would be nothing compared to what we will … [Read more...]
How free markets (don’t) work
The dishonest brokers didn't care who they approved for a mortgage because they were paid a fee for delivering the mortgage, not for having the mortgage actually work. The dishonest banks didn't care about who they were approving, because … [Read more...]
Financial Leverage and the Credit Cycle
Credit cycles go back at least as far as any economic history that I have seen. Certainly back to the American colonial period. For a long time, credit cycles were mostly regional. Prior to the Great Depression, different regions of the … [Read more...]
Stakeholders, history, and options in the mortgage mess
Who's who? Broadly speaking, the most important distinction is between people who own homes and people who don't own homes. But which category someone is in may have changed during the bubble. So that gives us at least 6 … [Read more...]
Renewable Energy Choices and Electricity Metering
My first question was asking about whether the state has any plans to require power companies to provide an option for residents interested in having all their electricity generated by renewable sources. Currently, some utility companies … [Read more...]