Tag Archives: economy

Discover card attempts to scam me into disability insurance

7/10/2009 – 2:20 pm

I received a call today from someone claiming to be calling on behalf of Discover with some entity called Monumental something, wanting to sell me some kind of a disability policy (maybe this?) paid for the first three months by Discover, then by me thereafter and charged to my card.
The first person I spoke to, [...]

By jasonb | Posted in Money | Comments (0)

Not a bankster? Here’s your bailout

6/29/2009 – 9:25 am

Paper Avalanche Buries Plan to Stem Foreclosures:

Hanging in the balance is more than the fate of individual homeowners. The administration portrays its mortgage program as a crucial piece of its broader effort to restore vigor to the economy. If the effort fails, foreclosures will continue to surge and home prices will probably keep falling, sowing [...]

By jasonb | Posted in Money | Also tagged | Comments (0)

Goldman Sachs bubble mania

6/27/2009 – 11:52 am

Another must read piece by Matt Taibbi, scanned from Rolling Stone. Gangster Capitalism is an apt name.

From tech stocks to high gas prices, Goldman Sachs has engineered every major market manipulation since the Great Depression - and they’re about to do it again
By MATT TAIBBI

By jasonb | Posted in Money | Also tagged | Comments (0)

Transaction credit, revolving credit, and you

5/22/2009 – 2:03 pm

Some excellent, must read articles today about credit, credit cards, and the place of financial services in the (British) economy.
Steve Randy Waldman on the critical difference between transactional and revolving credit:

We won’t get very far in the debate about credit in the US economy if we fail to distinguish between transactional and revolving credit. These [...]

By jasonb | Posted in Money | Comments (0)

When a recovery isn’t

5/7/2009 – 3:52 pm

Edward Harrison has a great article on GDP calculation on nakedcapitalism:

Recovery does not mean recovery
My final thought on the statistics here has to do with starting from a lower base. Before the Great Depression in 1929, the U.S. had nominal GDP of $103.6 billion. By 1933, this had dropped to $56.4 billion due to deflation [...]

By jasonb | Posted in Money | Comments (0)

Bank of America raised our APR

4/6/2009 – 9:20 am

Like many small businesses, we’ve been using credit cards when necessary to fund operations. It’s no surprise that BoA just sent us a change to our perpetually self modifying cardholder agreement stating our APR on purchases is rising 4%. Not as bad as I’ve seen happen to others, but ridiculous nonetheless.
Ultimately as these [...]

By jasonb | Posted in Rants | Also tagged | Comments (0)

Economic Crisis Reading, Money Supply and Capitalization

3/31/2009 – 7:37 pm

Steve Keen has a must read article, Steve Keen’s DebtWatch No 31 February 2009: “The Roving Cavaliers of Credit”, that turns the accepted relationship of money supply and the Fed on its head.
Eugene Fama speaks of government recapitalization of banks in Government Equity Capital for Financial Firms.

By jasonb | Posted in Links | Also tagged | Comments (0)

Financial Crisis: Of Bailouts, Kleptocracy, and AIG

3/21/2009 – 6:34 pm

Several must read articles just from the past couple days.
No Return to Normal Why the economic crisis, and its solution, are bigger than you think. James K. Galbraith.
The Big Takeover. The global economic crisis isn’t about money - it’s about power. How Wall Street insiders are using the bailout to stage a revolution. [...]

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