Privates Eye

Excellent thesis: Capitalism is dependent on population growth. The last paragraph hits the nail on the head.

The wasted 4.44% mortgage rate

Bottom line: banks don't want to lend at this rate because they know rates will go up dramatically from here in the next few years... they will find any way possible to keep you from qualifying - even if you are the lowest possible credit risk in the world.

Stiglitz Says U.S. Faces `Anemic Recovery,' Needs More Stimulus

I've been saying this for over a year... the stimulus should have been spent on INFRASTRUCTURE. Most job losses were in the construction industry - fix our decaying infrastructure and you solve the bulk of the unemployment issue. The money never should have been spent on bank bailouts and neverending handouts to the unemployed and overlevered.

I do not agree that we need another "better designed" stimulus package... we had one shot (or five if you count all of the iterations of TARP, ARRA, etc.) to get it right and both administrations screwed the pooch. More stimulus will just lead to greater problems down the road at this point - inflation and the need to learn how to speak Chinese.

Basel Capital Rules May Prompt Banks to Shrink Trading, OCC's Dugan Says

I'm pretty sure making loans is why banks were formed in the first place... what a bizarre concept - forcing them to go back to what they were supposed to be doing all along. Weird.

Update: Is the Stock Market Cheap?

Great analysis and use of the 10-yr. average earnings principle. The P/E10 graph is a great illustration of how we never came out of the 2000-2002 recession because Greenspan et. al. did not let it run its course -- stocks were overvalued throughout the last decade (and may be for the next decade if the current administration's track record is any indication of future monetary policy).