Banking Crisis

Audio interview with Laurence Kotlikoff on financial reform.

Scott Burns and Laurence J. Kotlikoff

“… let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself— nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.”

--- President Franklin D. Roosevelt in his first inaugural address, 1933

Bagehot plus RFC: the right financial fix

by Larry Kotlikoff and Perry Mehrling

by Laurence J. Kotlikoff and Perry Mehrling

by Scott Burns and Laurence J. Kotlikoff

Here's your quiz question for the day: Who is the biggest liar of them all?

The answer will surprise you, and, yes, you're allowed to consult your daily newspaper or favorite Web sites. Gird yourself. You may be overwhelmed by the number of candidates. Here are just a few:

Laurence J. Kotlikoff and Perry Mehrling

Scott Burn’s Interview with Laurence Kotlikoff

Nearly five years ago MIT Press published “The Coming Generational Storm,” a book I co-authored with economist Laurence J. Kotlikoff. We shared a deep foreboding about the implicit debt of our government and the burden it put on the young. We thought tough times were coming.

And they have.

By Scott Burns and Laurence J. Kotlikoff

The patient suffered a cardiac arrest. A dangerous amount of time has passed. Although the heart may be restarted, most cardiac arrest patients suffer severe brain damage after such delay.

But we are perversely fortunate.

IT'S ONE thing for the US Treasury Department to overpay banks for their toxic assets on the prayer that bank shareholders will do something besides pocket it - something that will help the economy. It's another thing to set up a complex leveraged auction scheme to surreptitiously make the transfer.