Regulation and the financial crisis
http://www.american.com/archive/2009/september/regulation-and-the-financial-crisis-myths-and-realities | Myth 1: Banking regulators were in the dark as new financial | instruments reshaped the financial industry. | Myth 2: Deregulation allowed the market to adopt risky practices, such | as using agency ratings of mortgage securities. | Myth 3: Policy makers relied too much on market discipline to regulate | financial risk taking. | Myth 4: The financial crisis was primarily a short-term panic. | Myth 5: The only way to prevent this crisis would have been to have | more vigorous regulation ... | The biggest myth is that regulation is a one-dimensional problem, in | which the choice is either “more” or “less.” From this myth, | the only reasonable inference following the financial crisis is that | we need to move the dial from “less” to “more.” | The reality is that financial regulation is a complex problem. Indeed, | many regulatory policies were major contributors to the crisis. To | proceed ahead without examining or questioning past policies, | particularly in the areas of housing and bank capital regulation, | would preclude learning the lessons of history. ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Predictions and Re: Smaller Government-Is it possible or a pipe dream?
At 03:17 PM Tuesday 9/8/2009, Chris Frandsen wrote: Your comment on not having much evidence to evaluate the reliability of my predictions is correct, to the best of my knowledge. Which is the most unlikely beginning condition, that we get serious or that we can decide what to do? When you suggested that your preference is for a government sized more like US around WW1 or earlier, were you referring to the number of personnel or the amount of dollars spent? Perhaps he was thinking of one where one or both of those items is comparable per capita, with the amount of dollars spent perhaps also adjusted for inflation? Or maybe the amount of dollars spent, iow, taken in in taxes, as a fraction of people's paychecks (again adjusted for inflation) that is comparable to the fraction of the paycheck taken out for taxes from the earnings of a person then with a similar job, etc., (realizing that such comparisons are going to be difficult because so many jobs today did not exist back then, and some of the jobs that did exist back then are no longer to be found . . . )? . . . ronn! :) ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Weekly Chat Reminder
The Brin-L weekly chat has been a list tradition for over ten years. Way back on 27 May, 1998, Marco Maisenhelder first set up a chatroom for the list, and on the next day, he established a weekly chat time. We've been through several servers, chat technologies, and even casts of regulars over the years, but the chat goes on... and we want more recruits! Whether you're an active poster or a lurker, whether you've been a member of the list from the beginning or just joined today, we would really like for you to join us. We have less politics, more Uplift talk, and more light-hearted discussion. We're non-fattening and 100% environmentally friendly... -(_() Though sometimes marshmallows do get thrown. The Weekly Brin-L chat is scheduled for Wednesday 3 PM Eastern/2 PM Central time in the US, or 7 PM Greenwich time. There's usually somebody there to talk to for at least eight hours after the start time. If no-one is there when you arrive just wait around a while for the next person to show up! If you want to attend, it's really easy now. All you have to do is send your web browser to: http://wtgab.demon.co.uk/~brinl/mud/ ..And you can connect directly from the NEW new web interface! -- William T Goodall Mail : w...@wtgab.demon.co.uk Web : http://www.wtgab.demon.co.uk Blog : http://radio.weblogs.com/0111221/ This message was sent automatically using launchd. But even if WTG is away on holiday, at least it shows the server is still up. ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Predictions and Re: Smaller Government-Is it possible or a pipe dream?
On Sep 9, 2009, at 4:56 AM, Ronn! Blankenship wrote: Perhaps he was thinking of one where one or both of those items is comparable per capita, with the amount of dollars spent perhaps also adjusted for inflation? Or maybe the amount of dollars spent, iow, taken in in taxes, as a fraction of people's paychecks (again adjusted for inflation) that is comparable to the fraction of the paycheck taken out for taxes from the earnings of a person then with a similar job, etc., (realizing that such comparisons are going to be difficult because so many jobs today did not exist back then, and some of the jobs that did exist back then are no longer to be found . . . )? Ronn! Yes! I believe that the clarification of the possible meanings of the word sized which you have provided are/ could be indeed perhaps what the gentleman was suggesting. I would not be surprised however if he took offense at any attempt at such clarification. There is sufficient evidence in his recent long string of posts here that any attempt by someone to clarify one's understanding of his comments by paraphrasing same will result in a rebuke. Thank you for your attempt, it has added to my understanding of the problem of communicating clearly. learner ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
Re: Predictions and Re: Smaller Government-Is it possible or a pipe dream?
On Wed, Sep 9, 2009 at 12:40 PM, Chris Frandsenlear...@mac.com wrote: Yes! I believe that the clarification of the possible meanings of the word sized which you have provided are/ could be indeed perhaps what the gentleman was suggesting. I would not be surprised however if he took offense at any attempt at such clarification. I don't take offense at questions. But I'm not particularly interested in discussing my viewpoints with people who write things like this: John Williams responded in less than 60 minutes to the previous post, used an excellent vocabulary to polarize and did not respond to the suggestion in the subject that perhaps he was hallucinating. Are we dealing with a computer program here? Or just someone who has been programmed? ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
The thread about the thread Re: DeLong on health insurance reform
David wrote: Hi. There I was, doing my bit to produce list traffic. Sorry... No apologies needed. I just remember so well person after person taking on JDG trying to talk about different stuff (abortion, death penalty, politics). While I think Dan talked the longest and the hardest, I came to feel the guy just got off on fanning flames of dissention. Sort of like what's going on now, IMO. And Yeah, the women probably are hiding. And Keith wrote: If we do solve the energy crisis in a way that gets rid of fossil fuels, then we might still have climate change, but it isn't likely to be a big problem. Enough energy and we can even pull CO2 out of the air. Work it out, 300 TW years will convert 100 ppm of CO2 to synthetic oil which could be stored in empty oil fields. So then, you think we should focus on the energy crisis and not worry about the population levels? Interesting. If that's what you are saying, I'll have to mull that one for a while. I've spent so long worrying about populations, this will be a major shift in thinking for me. H. We've probably had this conversation before, as well. Can I play the LOL (Little old lady) card and say I don't remember? I promise to read more and try to commit things to long term memory this time, but I'm still concerned about what our Grandson and Granddaughter will be facing when they're my age. Amities, all Jo Anne evens...@hevanet.com ___ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
