Archive for 'guest bloggers' Category
Our White Collar Nation
5 January 2010When I first read this article from The Stone I was amused by its simplistic view of the world. Clicking on the “trenchant observations” link below partly confirmed my assumptions:-) However, I guess many would agree with the general theme. So, other than Wall Street kleptomania and a dysfunctional government, what went wrong? Is the [...]
Class Warfare American Style
5 January 2010Jesse (aka Arthur Cutten) on learning of the recent GSE bailouts from Matt Taibbi on the criminal nature of the US financial services community. Hilarious rant, close to the truth or has Arthur spent too much time in a less class divided Europe? Extract: For me the basic dynamic of the mortgage bubble is some [...]
A few thoughts on taxing Savings, Consumption or Gambling?
31 December 2009Savers are taxed by government policies to assist banks to repair their balance sheets. This always happens after a financial crisis when most banks are bust but governments conspire to hide the facts. Prudent savers get hosed by low interest rates, especially retirees. Be in no doubt that this is a deliberate form of stealth [...]
The bankers who wouldn’t say sorry: a cautionary tale
29 December 2009There was a time when naughty boys Would have to forfeit all their toys, And go to bed without their food To force a new, repentant mood Upon the wretched little toads, Who flouted our great social codes. But there’s a price we all will pay If politicians won’t display A little courage and crack [...]
Pricing a CDO – Not only Bad Math, Bad Computation too
27 December 2009from: The Economic Populist, by Robert Oak, Sat, 12/26/2009 A working paper, Computational complexity and informational asymmetry in financial products, Sanjeev Arora, Boaz Barak, Markus Brunnermeier, Rong Ge. sheds some light on the complex mathematical models upon which credit default obligations and other derivatives are based. What Arora et al. prove is not only are many derivative mathematical [...]
Christmas Movie Marathon – The Age of Uncertainty
25 December 2009As an alternative to the menu of old tired movies on BBC TV this holiday season I have been re-watching some very old (1977) programmes on my iMac (with headphones). Despicably unsociable but much more interesting and still relevant today. Economist or more social scientist, John Kenneth Galbraith, wrote and presented an economic series in 1977, The Age [...]
Waving Goodbye to 2009
22 December 2009Share This Post:
A Response to: How Americans Spent Themselves into Ruin… but Saved the World
30 November 2009by SNS guest blogger Russ Daggatt [Ed: view the original article by David Brin below.] [Ed: Russ Daggatt has another interesting and well-documented commentary, this time eviscerating the fear-mongering campaign over bringing Guantanamo terror suspects to New York for trial: hannibal lecters zombie army invades new york.] David, I agree with your general point: The [...]
How Americans Spent Themselves into Ruin… but Saved the World
30 November 2009by SNS Guest Blogger David Brin* [The following was first published November 24, 2009, in the San Jose Mercury News, and is adapted here, with permission, for the Strategic News Service.] Only now, having offered one on-target bullet aimed at the loony right, let me do one of my patented “contrary” turns to bring up [...]
World on Fire – Notes and Impressions from FiRe 2009
3 June 2009Guest blogged by Glen Hiemstra, Founder & Owner, Futurist.com Last week included four eventful days at the annual Future In Review conference put on by the Strategic News Service. This year, the last at San Diego’s Hotel del Coronado [FiRe 2010 is moving to the Terranea; future FiRe locales aren’t yet scheduled – Ed.], was [...]