Blog Posts

Informationally-insensitive debt?

Felix Salmon asks Is informationally-insensitive debt a good thing?  

My own thinking falls somewhere in between the two sides he discusses.

Salmon is correct that the current system masks the risks inherent in holding any security or commodity, including cash. However, there is and always will be a demand for a safe place to stash cash pending reinvestment or distribution.

LET. IT. GO.

Questionable Finance

Will someone explain to me why, in light of this U.S. Repo Close: Current 3-Year Note at Lowest Rate, Minus 1.7% - Bloomberg, are we, e.g. the US Treasury, paying positive 1.25% on that same note?  That makes its current yield 2.95%.  The difference in time to maturity is not a satisfactory answer.

Radical Mellonism

The Mellon Doctrine - Paul Krugman - NYTimes.com:

“Liquidate labor, liquidate stocks, liquidate the farmers, liquidate real estate.” That, according to Herbert Hoover, was the advice he received from Andrew Mellon, the Treasury secretary, as America plunged into depression. To be fair, there’s some question about whether Mellon actually said that; all we have is Hoover’s version, written many years later."

Maybe Krugman is correct. Maybe Mellon-style liquidation is now the official doctrine of the G.O.P. Maybe rather than making the comparison then using it to sneer and argue against G.O.P. plans, it might be more effective to make the comparison then use it to advantage.

Clay Feet

Paul Krugman reflects on Armies of Expensive Lawyers, Replaced by Cheaper Software - NYTimes.com in Degrees and Dollars - NYTimes.com

Diagnosis, good. Prescription, lousy.

Religious tolerance

First Amendment:  Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition...

Read, weep

Why now, Maxine?  Why did you not have this conversation with elderly relatives pre-Obamacare? ...[T]he spectre of "socialized medicine" prevents us moving to single payer, where the incentives for prudent life cycle management of risk across all age and income...

Links

Marginal Revolution: *The Tenth Parallel* Economics: No, there is a shortage of safe assets | The Economist TheMoneyIllusion » Deconstructing Bernanke's speech An Autopsy of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac - NYTimes.com A Nice Sentence, Arnold Kling | EconLog |...

IPCC Clusterfrak

Those of us who actually read the late, great Michael Crichton's State of Fear understood that its main point was that there are people and groups who will go to great lengths to manufacture causes and crises for personal profit even...

Pages

Personal Information

Website
https://twitter.com/EmmaZahn

History

Member for
13 years 6 months

Latest Comments