ShareA while back I wrote a post called A populist interpretation of the latest Boom-Bust cycle that used a passage from Jared Diamond’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Guns, Germs and Steel on kleptocracy as a jumping-off point for a larger discussion about wealth distribution. The overall gist was that almost all societies have unequal distributions of income [...]

ShareLast week I showed you a chart from ProPublica in my post State unemployment insurance insolvency: 50 little Hoovers which demonstrated how states are being killed by the financial strains of unemployment insurance.  Well, this week ProPublica is back with more detail behind that chart – and, as you can imagine, it’s not exactly bullish.
They [...]

ShareIf you have been watching the news flow in the last month, you would certainly have the impression that there are an increasing number of large layoffs – Sam’s Club being a notable one.  Before January, the jobless claims numbers pointed to a weak but somewhat improving layoff picture. But, there has been an alarming [...]

ShareThis is a great graphic showing the money and asset flows in the AIG bailout that makes it far easier to understand why people are calling the AIG bailout a backdoor bailout of AIG’s counterparties.  Take a look.

Source
CHART OF THE DAY: How The AIG Bailout REALLY Worked – Clusterstock

ShareI just received this document from an interested reader. It is a request by Congressman Darrell Issa for a subpoena to be issued in order to facilitate the investigation surrounding the AIG cover-up. Apparently, evidence has now surfaced about Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke’s role in the AIG saga that is germane to this issue. [...]

ShareThis problem is going to be solved via tax increases a la Oregon or spending cuts a la California before FY 2011 hits in July. (hat tip Gregor)

(click image to enlarge)
Source
Unemployment Insurance Tracker – ProPublica

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ShareThe poll results are in on why President Obama has begun a ‘War on Wall Street.’ A majority of CW readers believe President Obama’s recent populist turn and harsh rhetoric directed toward Wall Street is a political stunt. And to the degree CW readers believe otherwise, they see the latest salvos as only a start. [...]

ShareMy favorite economic entertainer is back with his usual over-the-top semi-apocalyptic comments about government officials, the U.S. and more.  Here are a few choice quotes from Dr. Doom followed by the full videos of his session on Squawk Box on CNBC Europe below.
On Obama
I don’t have a very high opinion of Mr. Obama. I was [...]

ShareThis is pretty funny.  Hat tip Linda.

 
By the way, Linda, this is not my Libertarian ideal! It’s called anarchy.