Muscling through a rough cold, Francis shares his thoughts on an interesting piece on the Too Big to Fail concept in the latest issue of National Affairs on today's edition of Coffee and Markets: "The errors laid bare by the financial crisis clearly call for regulatory reform. But in designing that reform, we should avoid the temptation to seek heavy-handed new approaches — and should instead look to the long-term success of the system of rules whose decay brought about the crisis."
Monthly Archives: December 2009
Bernanke's the Man, Dean Slams Health Care, and Mortgages Stink
Ben Bernanke is Time's person of the year, Howard Dean takes up arms against the Senate health care bill, and Megan McArdle says we all have a moral obligation to pay our mortgages, whether it makes financial sense or not. We'll discuss all that and more on today's edition of Coffee and Markets.
Joe Lieberman Always Gets His Way
If there's one thing we've learned over the past few years, it's that we should never doubt the abilities of Joe Lieberman to get what he wants, and the willingness of Harry Reid to cave in the clutch. We'll discuss where health care goes from here, the latest on the markets, and a disturbing trend in food prices on today's edition of Coffee and Markets.
Obama to Fat Cat Bankers: Refinance or Else
President Obama says he's going to have a “serious talk” with bankers today to pressure them to provide more credit. Why? Well, because if you're upside down on your house today and want to take advantage of low rates, your bank is just as likely to say, "eh, no thanks, we'll just keep making money." We'll discuss this and more on today's edition of Coffee and Markets.
Better Living Through Defaulting: Just Walk Away From Your Home
So let's say you're stuck in a house that the bank says is worth half a million, but the market says it's worth only a quarter of that. What if it turned out you could walk away from it and rent not just another house, but a bigger house, for less money? What if four million of your friends figured this was a good idea, too? We'll discuss this and more on today's edition of Coffee and Markets.
Why Does Everyone Hate This Jobs Idea?
So before jetting off to accept his Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, President Obama went on a sales run for his jobs package idea -- and he came back empty handed. Why do the left and the right both hate this idea for spending TARP funds? We'll discuss this and more on today's edition of Coffee and Markets.
Obama's TARP Audacity: Will This Fix Anything?
President Obama wants to expand TARP to cover stimulus spending, handing out cash to small businesses to offset the egregious economic policies he's adopted (and in the case of health care, plans to adopt) damaging their ability to hire anyone. We'll discuss his Brookings Institution speech on today's edition of Coffee and Markets.
Introducing Edgecast: Is Method Acting Dead?
Our new sister site, Edge, is focused on all the fascinating things about pop culture that we don't cover in our mix of politics, foreign policy, and the marketplace. In our first Edgecast, I ask Cole Abaius of FilmSchoolRejects: Is method acting really dead? Can a style of acting die? What does that even mean? And he answers, with bonus Richard Milhous Nixon references.
Health Care Update: Prospects in the Senate
As the Senate considers a health care bill that amounts to the largest entitlement expansion in American history, we sit down today with health care and budget policy expert James Capretta to discuss the prospects in the Senate and the wide-ranging economic ramifications of the current legislation.
It's Time to Ask: Who Could Replace Ben Bernanke?
So it's time we asked the question: if not Ben Bernanke, who could be the next Fed chairman? And what are we going to do about job creation, since the president seems more interested in holding pointless conferences to waste time talking about job creation? It's our 100th episode -- time flies!
Job Numbers, Bernanke Holds, and News Media Realities
Tons of news in the market today as we unpack the surprisingly good job numbers, the Senate holds placed on Ben Bernanke's renomination, and the massive Comcast-NBC deal and what it says about the new realities for mass media -- all on the 99th edition of Coffee and Markets.
Books You Should Read: The End of Secularism
An interview with Hunter Baker, author of The End of Secularism: Do you think that communism's force lives on in the less violent but still all-encompassing secularism of today -- on issues like climate change and economic socialism? And second, do you think that those who strive against secularism today are on the losing side of history?