Further proof that the reflationary efforts of policy makers is taking hold comes from London in the form of record high house prices.  The Guardian reports:
Property asking prices in London have broken through the record high set in November 2007 as the drought of homes for sale around the country continues to distort the market. [...]

From the FDIC:
San Joaquin Bank, Bakersfield, California, was closed today by the California Department of Financial Institutions, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Citizens Business Bank, Ontario, California, to assume all of the deposits of San Joaquin [...]

Elizabeth Warren, chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel, is certainly looks to be fighting the good fight. At the conclusion of the Buttonwood Gathering in New York on Fixing Finance, she met with Tech Ticker’s Aaron Task and gave him quite an ear full.
Listen to what she has to say about the way the lay [...]

Ireland has made heroic strides in trying to deal with its economic problem after a spectacular property bust. But it is looking increasingly like it will not be enough. According to a senior Irish minister, the next stop for Ireland could be the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout.
The crisis has been building for [...]

I was heartened to hear that Alan Greenspan has repudiated the Too Big to Fail doctrine (as practiced in the Bush and Obama Administrations) in such unequivocal terms. He almost sounded like a Teddy Roosevelt trust buster.
Nevertheless, President Obama clearly believes the line fed to him by Wall Street. He is no Teddy Roosevelt. [...]

In speaking to the Council of Foreign Relations, Greenspan said what I have heard many other credible financial experts say, namely that financial institutions which are ‘too big to fail’ (TBTF) are simply too big.
Is this Alan Greenspan talking?  I am astonished that the man we have called bubble-blower in chief is willing to [...]

In one of my latest posts I said “greed is not good.” Quite frankly, I looked at this statement as self-evident in the wake of an economic catastrophe where greed was a defining element.  Yet, a remarkable number of people commented in defense of greed; they seem to believe greed is a good thing. So, [...]

Below is a YouTube clip featuring Elizabeth Warren, the chair of Congress’ oversight panel of TARP (the Troubled Asset relief Program), the bailout started by Hank Paulson and passed by Congress.  In it she talks about her fears regarding the lack of real regulatory reform in the world of finance and how this is setting [...]

In the 1987 movie classic Wall Street, the sinister protagonist Gordon Gekko played by Michael Douglas gives this famous quote:

In the last seven deals that I’ve been involved with, there were 2.5 million stockholders who have made a pretax profit of 12 billion dollars. Thank you. I am not a destroyer of companies. I am a liberator of them! The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind.

Since that time, this quote has become famous as the “Greed is Good” philosophy of capitalism.

Roger Bootle sat down with the Telegraph and ran through a few themes in regards to the stock market, the financial crisis, government debt, currencies and compensation in the financial sector.  He has a lot to say, in particular on banks, which he argues do not operate in competitive markets – one reason they pay [...]