Financial Times
MF Global is not the first firm to be done in by bad bets in the casino known as Wall Street, nor will it be the last. With many questions still unanswered – perhaps most importantly what exactly happened to the $630m of customer money that was required to remain in segregated accounts – attempting to divine the meaning of its collapse may
be premature. But a first rough draft of the meteoric history of the brokerage company offers a few lessons and timely reminders.
New York Times
Here’s the critical takeaway from last week’s European rescue plan: Nothing in it addresses the endemic economic weaknesses that nearly propelled the euro zone into a meltdown.
Financial Times
Eurobonds. EFSF. IMF austerity. ESM. Budgetary rules. A European finance minister. So many wonky ideas for saving the single currency swirling as pressure mounts on the eurozone’s leaders to find a solution at this weekend’s summit. Unusually, senior US policymakers have also weighed in, urging boldness and the American policy tools of 2008 on their European counterparts.
New York Times
FOR the typical American, the past decade has been economically brutal: the first time since the 1930s, according to some calculations, that inflation-adjusted incomes declined. By 2010, real median household income had fallen to $49,445, compared with $53,164 in 2000. While there are many culprits, from declining unionization to the changing mix of needed skills, globalization has had the greatest impact.
Financial Times
Let’s agree that a lot of bad stuff happened along the way to the 2008
financial meltdown and that a good portion of the responsibility can justifiably
be laid at the feet of the Wall Street community. Whether or not laws were
broken, the lack of discipline and inadequate controls around many lending and
risk taking practices certainly merit some version of the vigorous rethink of
the regulatory apparatus that is now in process.
Politico
I can’t speak to the accuracy (or inaccuracy) of much of Ron Suskind’s new book, “Confidence Men,” but based on attending almost daily meetings at the White House during the first six months of the Obama Administration, I can say this: Suskind’s narrative does not resemble my experience working for President Barack Obama, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and National Economic Council Director Larry Summers on the rescue of General Motors and Chrysler.
Financial Times
In a fusillade of debates and speeches President Barack Obama and his Republican challengers have firmly established the economic policy combat lines for next year. What an electoral battle it will be – a clash of ideologies the likes of which America has not seen in decades.
New York Times
IN the middle of all the debt default drama and stock market turbulence, the leading Republican presidential candidates have begun to fill in the shadowy outlines of their positions on major economic issues.
Financial Times
Read what you choose into the gyrating US stock market. Blame, if you like, the dysfunction in Washington and the unsatisfying deal that led Standard & Poor’s to remove America’s triple A rating. Or worry about Europe, lurching from one phase of its sovereign debt crisis to another. And of course, many investors fear that torrid growth in emerging market countries is slowing quickly.
The A-List on Ft.com
Like a video game in which the combatants periodically ascend to a higher, more intense level, the budget talks in Washington have ratcheted up, with Barack Obama now engaged in direct talks with Republican leaders. And while the initial goal of an agreement by July 2nd has been missed, the president has successfully bullied the Senate into cancelling its Independence Day recess and returning to Washington today, allowing negotiations to resume early this week.
