Mike made the point [13] that most people in developing countries are more exploited and miserable than the typical American, mortgage crisis or not. He has a point. I know just what it means to be able to buy bananas for 69 cents/lb at the local supermarket. It’s just that this level of exploitation seems to be slowly creeping into the middle class of the heartland. There is a famous story about the "boiling frog". The allegorical moral [11] is that if you put a frog into hot water it will hop out, but if you heat the water slowly…
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… Iceland is confronted by more powerful nations, headed by the United States and Britain. They are unleashing their propagandists and mobilizing the IMF and World Bank to demand that Iceland not defend itself by wiping out its bad debts. Yet these creditor nations so far have taken no responsibility for the current credit mess. And indeed, the United States and Britain are net debtors on balance. But when it comes to their stance vis-à-vis Iceland, they are demanding that it impoverish its citizens by paying debts in ways that these nations themselves would never follow. … [1] The Book…
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It’s Friday, and the Arizona Republic reported yesterday that a former Scottsdale accountant swindled $67 million from investors in his real estate Ponzi scheme:  [Thanks M!] A former Scottsdale accountant was arrested Wednesday and stands accused of devising a $67 million real-estate Ponzi scheme, authorities said. Scottsdale police arrested Dan Wise, 52, on theft and fraud charges, police said Thursday. Detectives along with federal agents served search warrants at Wise’s Scottsdale residence, businesses and a storage facility, police said. While the investigation remains ongoing, police believe there are victims in multiple states. Last week, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission…
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I’m more than usually over my head this week, what with the WSJ reporting that general foreign investor demand for treasuries had strongly rebounded in February,[1] but that yesterday T-bills sold off strongly.[2] What’s really bizarre was that last week’s foreign Treasury Debt buy was nearly the largest Doom has ever seen. Obviously that didn’t impress Mr. Market. UPDATE: Brad over at CFR has now posted a long must-read analysis [7] on the issue. Treasuries are the only US asset foreign investors still want, despite their low yields. Over the past 12 months, the US — rather amazingly — could…
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