Banking Promotions and Loan Modification Failures: Design, Incompetence or Both?
The Baseline Scenario submits: By James KwakIn late summer or early fall, Citibank was running a promotion: if you opened a new account or moved a certain amount of money to your bank account, you...
View ArticleOn Entrepreneurs, Risk and John Paulson
The Baseline Scenario submits: By James KwakI planned to write about Malcolm Gladwell in this post a couple of days ago, but I had rambled on long enough, so I deferred it until later. Well, Felix...
View ArticleConfessions of a Tech Bust Manager
The Baseline Scenario submits: By James Kwak(Warning: long post ahead.) I was minding my own business, reading Past Due by Peter Goodman (I got it from Simon, who I think got it for free), and there...
View ArticleBank Tax: Finally, A Little Regulation
The Baseline Scenario submits: By James KwakLet’s hope this gets laughed out of consideration. According to the New York Times, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association is considering...
View ArticleFree Markets, Taxes and Growth
The Baseline Scenario submits: By James Kwak “How do you feel about paying such high taxes?”“I think it is terrific. . . . I get a little bit angry because constantly in Denmark there’s this talk that...
View ArticleDoes Healthcare Reform Offer Corporate Accountability?
The Baseline Scenario submits: By James KwakLast week I wrote a post about how banks entice customers with promotions and then fail to keep up their end of the bargain, forcing customers to waste...
View ArticleOne More Thing on That Deficit Commission
The Baseline Scenario submits: By James KwakIf I were Peter Orszag, I would be tearing my hair out. (Or maybe not, since he’s happily engaged to be married later this year.)Complete Story »
View ArticleWill the Deficit Commission Solve the Government's Money Problems?
The Baseline Scenario submits: By James Kwak It looks like President Obama is going to create the bipartisan commission to cut the deficit that Kent Conrad and Judd Gregg have been pitching–except...
View ArticleThree Issues Obama's Bank Limits Must Address
The Baseline Scenario submits: By Simon JohnsonPaul Volcker, legendary central banker turned radical reformer of our financial system, has won an important round. The WSJ is now reporting:Complete...
View ArticleObama Now In Synch with Volcker
The Baseline Scenario submits: By James KwakSo Barack Obama has come around to the idea that big banks need to be made smaller and that smarter regulation (contingent capital, enhanced capital...
View ArticleBank Size: 'As Is'?
The Baseline Scenario submits: By Simon JohnsonThe White House background briefing is that their proposals would freeze biggest bank size “as is” — this makes no sense at all.Complete Story »
View Article3 Questions Bernanke Must Answer
The Baseline Scenario submits: By Simon JohnsonUpdate: the Senate needs to hold a new hearing for Ben Bernanke – here’s the full proposal.Complete Story »
View ArticleGeithner Needs to Get with the Program
The Baseline Scenario submits: The details of the new White House banking policy are somewhat vague and in places borderline incoherent – e.g., what exactly does “The President’s proposal will place...
View ArticleWhy Paul Krugman Should Be Fed Chief
The Baseline Scenario submits: By Simon JohnsonThe case for Ben Bernanke’s reappointment was weak to start with, weakened with his hearings, and is now held together by string and some phone calls...
View Article2 Important Points About Financial Reform
The Baseline Scenario submits: By James KwakFrom Economics of Contempt (hat tip Brad DeLong):The single best thing we could do for financial reform: Triple the budgets of all financial regulatory...
View ArticleKrugman's Aversion to Fed Chief Job Should Inspire Its Transformation
The Baseline Scenario submits: By James KwakPaul Krugman says that Simon’s idea that he should be chair of the Fed is “crazy.” Krugman’s point is either that he wouldn’t be confirmed or that he...
View Article5 Reasons to Worry the 'Volcker Rule' May Just Be Hype
The Baseline Scenario submits: By Simon JohnsonAt the broadest level, Thursday’s announcement from the White House was encouraging – for the first time, the president endorsed potential new...
View ArticleTim Geithner Says to Leave Your Money at Big Banks
The Baseline Scenario submits: by James KwakBut he’s not sure why. During an interview with Mike Allen of Politico, Tim Geithner said that the Move Your Money campaign is a bad idea, but didn’t...
View ArticleSpending Freeze: Too Clintonesque
The Baseline Scenario submits: By James KwakOn the one hand, last week’s Volcker-fest signaled that the Obama administration wants to get tough on Wall Street. Given that they almost certainly don’t...
View ArticleGood for Goldman
The Baseline Scenario submits: By James KwakSearching through my RSS feed*, I observed that not many people have commented on Goldman Sachs’s stunning compensation announcement (except for Felix...
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