Some Common Sense at Last about Banks- Volcker

This strikes me as the right approach.
Volcker Calls for Restricting Banks’ Risk, Trading Activity – WSJ.com
The comments reflect Mr. Volcker’s long-held view that banks should act more in line with their traditional role and not take extremely risky gambles, which could threaten the viability of commercial banks and expose the Federal Reserve and taxpayers to [...]

Labor Day Thoughts

This post is mostly for my students (and myself)  since the unyieldingess of the academic calendar means we are in class on labor day.
I know as a kid growing up with two professional, salaried parents, I had no concept of labor day aside from that three day weekend.  I wonder how many of my students [...]

What is wrong here

X-posted at my class blog.
“Retention bonuses” would seem to be bonuses by any other name.  Obviously, public and political scrutiny is at super high levels as we reel from the financial crisis.
This little nugget caught my eye about a joint venture between Citigroup and Morgan Stanley:
According to the newspaper [The WSJ], not all of the [...]

$819 Billion to show us that transparency is not enough — Authentic Organizations

$819 Billion to show us that transparency is not enough — Authentic Organizations
Rachel asserts that “accounting is really an exercise about setting our priorities and ensuring that we are acting on and accounting for those priorities. ” Thus, Rachel recommends that organizations be more transparent about their accounting (and distribution of resources), so that they [...]

Sociologist is one of best jobs according to Wall Street Journal

According to the venerable WSJ, being a  sociologist is one of teh top ten jobs in the US using a multiple criteria evaluation that includes salary, level of stress, workplace conditions and other commonsensical metrics.
Mathematician is #1.  Lumberjack is #200.
I wonder if they break out other academics… if so, the 200 careers is going to [...]

Da** you, Krugman!!!!! Scooped me again.

A friend from Dads night  can attest to the fact that on Wednesday I told him I think that Madoff’s Ponzi scheme and so-called “normal” investing in high finance, speculative vehicles is probably very similar in terms of how investors act and gather information.
Paul Krugman’s column in today’s NY Times starts off:
The revelation that Bernard [...]

Through the looking glass: Putting a Value on a C.E.O.

January 28- Update:
Maureen Dowd Agrees with me:
“If you don’t pay your best people, you will destroy your franchise” and they’ll go elsewhere, he said.
Hello? They destroyed the franchise. Let’s call their bluff. Let’s see what a great job market it is for the geniuses of capitalism who lost $15 billion in three months and helped [...]

Research ideas for Six Degrees Students

Research Ideas for My Students
Hello folks. This is by no means a comprehensive set of resources. It more reflects sources that seemed to be of interest to two or more of you AND that I thought might not jump out at you as pertinent. It is a mix of search terms, blogs, alternative media, as [...]

0% almost never appears in public polls

The National Economy
No Americans say that the national economy is getting better, 13% say it is staying the same, and 82% say the national economy is getting worse.

National economy

Getting better

Staying the same

Getting worse

Undecided

Sep 2008
-
13%
82%
5%

Aug 2008
18%
19%
60%
3%

Jul 2008
3%
20%
76%
1%

You almost never see 0% in public polls. They must not have any BOA executives, gold stock holders, or other [...]

No blank check for Wall Street.

No blank check for Wall Street.
This is worse than a bad deal – this isn’t a deal at all. This is a blank check to some of the richest companies in the world.
This is a blog post with a petition linked to  it.  I may not agree with all the language, but this is not [...]