links for 2010-04-27
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They did not like either the lobster risotto, or the braised pork shoulder, or the grilled pork loin, or the ice cream, or the coffee. I, on the other hand, thought the braised pork shoulder i had there last month--Maiale al latte--was the best thing I've eaten this year...
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AK: Fabrice Tourre: "[Paulson had input, but that ACA] ultimately analyzed and approved every security in the deal. ACA had sole authority to decide what securities would be referenced in the transaction, and it does not dispute that point... If ACA was confused about Paulson's role in the transaction, it had every opportunity to clarify the issue."
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DG: "For the past several decades, Wall Street has continually told Washington that if the Street can't do things the way it always has, and if the government changes the rules to mandate greater transparency and customer protection, that the geniuses in Lower Manhattan won't be able to make money, and it would stunt the industry. They've been wrong every time."
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I am in broad agreement with Robert Gordon on the potential size of CPI bias, with Jared Bernstein on our lack of knowledge of how large it really is, and... that a big CPI bias should not make us feel happy about the income distribution.... I tend to weigh in... with all three... that America would be a better place with more social democratic policies. Moreover, the bigger CPI bias, the more social democratic we should be. Think about it. If there is 20% of CPI bias in the past 30 years, then median male real earnings have risen by 30% instead of the 10% in official statistics. But real national income per capita has risen by 125% rather than by 90%. A country that is so phenomenally more productive than the country of the mid-1970s should be able to do a much better job at providing... income security, education... and leisure... as well as a... greater share in the rises in real material standards of living of which the rich have grabbed the... tyrannosaur's share.
