Those of you who know me well enough will understand my glee when I read this article from today’s New York Times: Rescue of Banks Hints at Nationalization I have said all through this crisis that the cleanest and quickest way to bail out the banks is to inject capital. The plan would be for […]

I mentioned yesterday that we should evaluate the effects of any stimulus package through the lens of the ‘multiplier effect’. The notion is that any money spent by the government passes through several pairs of hands as it circulates the economy. Spending creates demand which creates jobs and thus more demand. And so on. One […]

Some of you have complained that banks are wrong not to have loaned the money they received from the government bailout program [‘TARP’ for short]. There is plenty of angst in Congress over the same issue, so let me explain what I think has been going on. Only about half of the money set aside […]