Ken Henry can leave Treasury knowing he was responsible for one of the greatest public policy successes since Federation, the response to the GFC. It’s a pity both sides of politics treated him poorly.
Global Financial Crisis
WikiLeaks update: King’s GFC bailout … Ireland a ‘bit optimistic’ about economy …
Banking crisis now one of solvency not liquidity, says Bank of England governor … U/S Jeffery and A/S O’Brien press UK on Iranian banks … the bank guarantee: an Irish solution to an Irish problem … Spanish ambassador on Western Sahara, migration, Islamists … Pope Benedict’s visit to Sao Paulo …
Where does one US$10 bill go in a month?
Using the old “follow the money” Watergate adage, journalist Steve Boggan followed a US $10 note around the country for 30 days and 30 nights. From hunting to churches and diners, it tells a fascinating tale of the US economy.
Banks’ job a simple one … but they do it poorly
Many commentators erroneously point to the so-called heroic role played by Australian banks in steering Australia through the GFC, when it was the Australian taxpayer that saved the banks.
PHOTO GALLERY 
The world’s most energetic cities
A look at the most dynamic cities in this post-GFC world, judging each city by employment and growth of income. Melbourne is the only Oz addition, with the rest mainly being in China, India, South East Asia and South America.
US Fed tells ‘how we saved the world’
Overnight, the US Federal Reserve released a slew of documents detailing the amazing level of support it gave the world economy.
Guy Rundle: Rundle: the GFC, Wikileaks collide … and the world just shifted
Two massive processes have come into collision — the second wave of the global financial crisis, breaking strongly in Europe, hitting WikiLeaks’ rolling wave of information storms, changing the relationship between state and power.
The GFC monster rears its head again
The weather is freezing cold across much of northern and central Europe and now in financial markets, where activity has slowed dramatically in the past two days, the credit chill returns.
The Canberra cables
There a strong correlation between secret cable activity at the US embassy in Canberra during negotiations at the Copenhagen in 2009 and a possible correlation with a backflip by the Rudd government on missile defence in 2008, writes Luke Miller, blogger at Idle Senate Speculation.
Pride comes before a fiscal fall: Oz economists are getting cocky
The blinkered view of many Australian economists is that the credit crisis in Europe can only benefit our economy. But that’s a load of hokum - if the euro falls it could spell serious trouble, writes David Llewellyn-Smith.
Hill’s heresy a good role model for Australian banks
Vernon Hill’s business model was almost diametrically opposite to the risky practices of Australian banks, which almost go out of their way to alienate depositors.
And financial regulators wonder why smart people don’t trust them…
It was only back in July that the international financial regulators gave the major Irish banks the tick of approval. Fast forward four months and it’s a very different Ireland, notes Richard Farmer.
It’s time to reboot the bank debate
Talk of Hockeynomics and bank regulation may have whipped up a frenzied debate but virtually nobody involved has actually addressed the most important concerns posed by the GFC, writes David Llewellyn-Smith.
Ireland rescued: don’t blame the euro — blame regulators, bankers
Now for Portugal, then perhaps Spain and Belgium, with a saver on Italy after Ireland was saved this morning. And why did Ireland need help? It has been shut out of capital markets for a month or more now and it wouldn’t be let back in until something had changed.
This thing called sovereign risk
The world’s newspapers are full of stories of the risk of Greece, Ireland, and then Portugal, even Spain and Italy, all taking the knock because their governments cannot repay outstanding loans. But what will consequences be if it actually happens? asks Richard Farmer.
Just a little Greek accounting error
Eurostat, the statistical arm of the European Union, has just come up with revised figures for the Greek government’s budget deficit and debt. the deficit for 2009 has been increased from 13.6% of GDP to 15.4% with total debt now put at 126.8% of GDP, says Richard Farmer.
Default of the Irish?
Time is running out for Ireland. The debt-plagued country is being urged to accept a bailout to quell worries about its solvency, and to stop the turmoil in financial markets that is endangering weak members of the eurozone, says Karen Maley.
Buy Bernie Madoff’s embroidered velveteen slippers
Get ready for ‘flog off everything failed investor Bernie Madoff owned: the intimate edition’. Now his old suits, leopard print loafers and even a pair of pleated boxer shorts (yes, pleated) are going under the hammer. With 150 years of jail time pending, he no longer has use for them.
Joye: we have an information exchange for equities — why not debt?
This is an extract of a speech presented by Rismark’s Christopher Joye at last week’s LIXI Industry Forum: One of the problems with managing the Byzantine nexus between extreme asset price and credit cycles, and the ordinarily adverse ramifications of these events for our real-economy, is that policymakers have historically had very poor credit data. […]
Who says banks too big to fail? We need a warts-and-all inquiry
We have had piecemeal probes, but they are just examinations at the edge. A a wider inquiry is needed and it should be independent, not parliamentary, with the powers of a Royal Commission merely to make sure that everyone attends and takes it seriously.
Another day at the office: more foreclosures, more perks
A deposition released this week in Florida claims one “foreclosure mill” paid its employees according to how many foreclosures they could process. One manager allegedly signed 1000 documents a day - none of which he read, writes Ryan McCarthy
Why Americans should take a pay cut
With nearly 20% of US workers currently unemployed, the best way for workers to protect their current struggling employers is to agree to a drop in wages, writes Derek Thompson. Better to pay workers less than having the government pay unemployment benefits
US fat cats – not workers – should take wage cuts
The GFC bailout in America resulted in big biz fat cats getting paid hefty bonuses at the expense of the rest of the economy. On the subject of economic adjustment their wages need to be cut, not the wages of workers, writes Dean Baker.
lol Things I learnt while unemployed
Just because there is a recession, doesn’t mean your resume can’t be filled up with interesting and useful skills. Like “developed and implemented a strategy to hide employment status from potential dates.” Critical for the selection criteria, surely.
VIDEO: Two very different views on the US economy
On Bloomberg TV this week economists David Rosenberg and Jim Paulsen had a feisty debate about the effectiveness of the current US economic recovery. Paulsen says attitudes are far worse than reality while Rosenberg argues a far gloomier outlook.
