http://insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu/index.php en t-malone@kellogg.northwestern.edu Copyright 2009 2009-10-06T20:56:06+00:00 http://insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu/index.php/fpi/blog/where_do_we_go_from_here/ http://insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu/index.php/fpi/blog/where_do_we_go_from_here/#When:19:56:06Z Last week I had the opportunity to opine on this question at a lively conference on the financial crisis sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and the World Bank.  Since I spoke about things I’ve been meaning to blog about for some time, I decided to post the transcript here. {categories backspace="1"}Finance and the Public Interest 2009-10-06T19:56:06+00:00 http://insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu/index.php/fpi/blog/smoke_and_mirrors_at_the_fdic/ http://insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu/index.php/fpi/blog/smoke_and_mirrors_at_the_fdic/#When:13:14:01Z Sheila Bair would take bamboo shoots under her nails before going to Tim Geithner and the Treasury for help, said Camden R. Fine, president of the Independent Community Bankers {categories backspace="1"}Finance and the Public Interest 2009-10-02T13:14:01+00:00 http://insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu/index.php/fpi/blog/break_the_buck/ http://insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu/index.php/fpi/blog/break_the_buck/#When:16:38:18Z Here’s a wonderful idea for a financial product: raise trillions of dollars from investors, invest in a variety of risky assets, and then lie to investors about what the shares of the fund are worth. Just to make this easy, claim that each share is worth $1, even if it’s really worth less. {categories backspace="1"}Finance and the Public Interest 2009-09-23T16:38:18+00:00 http://insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu/index.php/fpi/blog/the_empire_strikes_back/ http://insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu/index.php/fpi/blog/the_empire_strikes_back/#When:23:09:12Z As nightmarish memories of September 2008 fade, the financial industry is gearing up to fight new regulations. The battle lines are being drawn and became more visible this week. {categories backspace="1"}Finance and the Public Interest 2009-06-04T23:09:12+00:00 http://insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu/index.php/fpi/blog/theres_just_no_accounting_for_federal_bailouts/ http://insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu/index.php/fpi/blog/theres_just_no_accounting_for_federal_bailouts/#When:03:10:00Z In the last few months, the federal government has intervened in financial markets to an extent unparalleled in U.S. history. A partial tally includes the $29 billion, no-recourse loan from the Fed to rescue Bear Stearns; the federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and their exposure to the credit risk on $5 trillion of residential mortgages; loans in excess of $100 billion to insurance giant AIG, and of course, open-ended Congressional authority for Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to purchase up to $700 billion in troubled assets from financial institutions, part of which has already financed the purchase of over $250 billion of preferred bank stock. Whatever you think about the wisdom of these interventions, one fact is indisputable: The government is not saying how much it expects all of this to cost us. The dearth of official estimates has, on one hand, led to Pollyannaish claims like “taxpayers could actually make money on this.”. On the other hand, it has stoked fears that taxpayers may be on the hook for trillions of dollars in losses. {categories backspace="1"}Finance and the Public Interest 2008-10-28T03:10:00+00:00