Here’s another interesting piece from Randall Wray, the economics professor from University of Missouri-Kansas City (that same school which employs Bill Black of “The Best Way to Rob a bank is to own one” fame).
Wray has a lot to say most, but not all, of which I found convincing – but that’s a story for [...]

The Rise and Fall of Empires – Paul Kedrosky (cool visual)
FT Alphaville – A Minskian roadmap to the next gold mania
At Failed Banks, Post-Mortems Disclose Excessive, Yet Obvious, Risk – NYTimes.com
Economic Perspectives from Kansas City: Should America Kowtow to China?
FT.com – Fears of China property bubble
The Ayn Rand revival | [...]

Initial jobless claims for the past week were 505,000, tied with last week for the lowest since January. This brings the 4-week average down to 514,000, the lowest since November of last year and the 11th consecutive week of declines. 
Clearly, fewer people are losing their jobs.  But, 505,000 is still a large number – [...]

I want to take a break from banking and macro stuff and talk a little bit about technology. I wrote an article about Android a few weeks back. That was a more personal account on why I was switching from a Windows Mobile phone to Android, the latest whiz-bang operating system running mobile phones. (Don’t [...]

Hat tip Rolfe Winkler.

After a huge fall off in credit consistent with the fall in nominal GDP, we are seeing credit stabilise at a lower level. Debt to GDP ratios may not be lower, but as GDP is lower, so too is credit in the system.  Yet there is a large difference between the haves and the have-nots, [...]

Barack Obama has now come clean about his thinking on why his administration has decided to focus first on reducing the deficit and next on jobs. He fears a double-dip recession will occur if foreigners lose confidence in the U.S. dollar, causing interest rates to spike. 
This is nonsense and it demonstrates how much at [...]

Josh Reviews Everything: And then he took his pants off. Again.
frontline: a class divided: watch the program | PBS
In Case Someone Says You Couldnt See This Coming – Yves Smith
U.S. conservatives: Obama bowed too deeply to Emperor | The Japan Times Online
Bankruptcy Experts Challenge Obama’s ‘Too Big To Fail’ Plans – [...]

Credit Suisse has a note out urging caution on Citigroup shares due to regulatory hurdles.  Their logic bears noting as it can be useful for other U.S.-based banks.
On Monday the CS analysts met with Citi management, who were somewhat cautious. The CS note indicates that regulatory changes in the U.S. are likely to mandate higher [...]

This excerpt comes from the blog News from 1930 which gives us a day-to-day account of what was being reported in 1930 before the worst of the Great Depression hit.
“The unemployment situation in New York is critical. Unless it is speedily met, we face a winter of hunger and distress for families whose bread-earners are [...]