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Wells Fargo and some other large banks would like private companies, perhaps even themselves, to become the new housing finance giants helping to bundle individual mortgages into securities — that would be stamped with a government guarantee.
The banks have presented their ideas publicly through trade groups. Housing industry consultants and people familiar with recent meetings at the Treasury Department say these banks view the government’s overhaul of the mortgage market as a potential profit opportunity. Treasury officials have met with executives from several institutions, including Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse, according to a public listing of the meetings.
Incredible, instead of regulating derivatives which caused the Financial Crisis, banks now want to make them and get the government to guarantee them.
To add credibility to rhetoric, and to provide a measure of substance to minor accomplishments, politicians often cite relatively insignificant numbers and data to boost support. The most recent claim of success is being lauded today in Schenectady, N.Y., birthplace of the General Electric Co., to showcase a new GE deal with India, and to announce a restructured presidential advisory board to focus on increasing employment and competitiveness.
Initial weekly unemployment claims decreased to 404,000 this week. Remember when on December 30th, Initial Jobless Claims dropped below 400,000 and everyone cheered? Then, the last week IUC jumped up to 445,000? Which pattern is true? Well, they both are.
The proposed South Korea Free Trade Agreement has nothing to do with free or fair trade. It’s managed trade as defined in over a thousand pages filled with favors and exceptions for some special interests, while imposing obligations and restrictions on the beleaguered American manufacturing sector. It had been slated for "fast track" passage with the backing of the Obama Administration, establishment Republicans, and multi-national corporate interests. Early February was mentioned as a target for an up or down vote. Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX), head of the trade subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee, even wants "free trade" deals with Korea, Panama, and Colombia to pass together.
When I recently interviewed Ian Fletcher, Adjunct Fellow at the U.S. Business and Industry Council about the pending agreement - which will be published shortly in the Jacksonville Florida Observer - he noted that President Obama will "unlikely avoid serious debate on this agreement, and I personally doubt whether it will pass. The public is getting more skeptical of free trade every day. An NBC-Wall Street Journal poll in September 2010 found 53% of Americans believing free trade agreements hurt the U.S., with only 17% believing them beneficial; the split had been 30% vs. 39% percent in 1999."
As CEOs descend to pay tribute to China in the White House and all Hail the Chief at a Celebrity filled state dinner, the American people are once again left out in the cold. Literally, Barack Obama denies China has captured American manufacturing and our jobs along with it.
Obama and Hu greeted the CEOs in a room in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building (the mammoth building next to the White House that looks like a Victorian-era hotel) and made a few remarks before leaving for their presser.
“I think our goal here today was to make sure that we break out of the old stereotypes that somehow China is simply taking manufacturing jobs and taking advantage of low wages,” thereby straining the U.S. employment base, Obama said. “The relationship is much more complex than that, and it has much more potential than that.”
“I also have a message to American entrepreneurs,” Hu added. “That is, we welcome you as companies to China….We will, as always, try to provide a transparent, just, fair, highly efficient investment climate to U.S. companies and other foreign companies.”
Nice huh? China wants what is left of American innovators. Obama rolls out the red carpet to have a meet and greet.
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