Stephen Metzger

TALF Is Starting to Make Me Mad

Perhaps I am missing something, but Mr. Cohan appears to shift gears midstream in this article. First, he pushes the idea that we need a good recession to readjust our expectations and reset the economic software, so to speak; but then in an interesting exposition of TALF concludes that the scheme may be worth it afterall.

If, however, the economy remains fundamentally weak and pessimistic expectations prevail, the new wave of securitized issues will ultimately fail. As the government loans are no recourse loans, as Mr. Cohan points out, then taxpayers will again be called upon to bail out the government and the Fed.

I don't think you can simply talk about financial markets and the various schemes that are put together to resurrect credit markets without talking about the real side of the economy, especially the impact of potential new taxes on individuals and corporations either directly or indirectly. Ultimately, the benefits of TARP and TALF are squarely dependent on economic growth, and I don't see this as any sort of a priority in this administration.

The Federal Reserve Has Failed Its Economic Mission

I read through most of the article and the first few of the responses that came up afterward. The article is convoluted and succeeds in obfuscating the issues by combining the relevant with the irrelevant. The responses, on the other hand, suggest the article lit a fire under a little band of Marxists (i.e., dangerous fools). Unfortunately, the little band has its man in the White House. I suggest we are moving not so much in the direction of the Soviet Union but rather in the direction of Argentina.

Orwellian Finance: Is 1984 Happening in 2009?

Ron Paul would have been far more acceptable and successful as a presidential candidate had he been able to discern that terrorists are, in fact, a real threat--just as Hitler and Stalin were. Orwell would not have denied this, and, of course, he fought against the latter two dictators. Otherwise, it's a great piece. I am tempted to distribute it to my classes in basic micro and macro economics.