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Economix Blog: Podcast: Derivative Trading, Unemployment and the American Gun Business

November 26, 2011 by Leave a Comment

The Dodd-Frank law aimed to tighten financial regulations in hopes of preventing another meltdown. Among other things, it called for greater transparency in the trading of derivatives.

But in the new Weekend Business podcast, Gretchen Morgenson says an effort is under way in Congress to roll back new rules that would require that certain derivatives — those in the $50 billion swaps market — trade openly on exchanges like stocks or bonds. At the moment, she says in her column in Sunday Business, they trade in one-on-one conversations on the telephone, which, in general, probably results in higher prices and fees.

In another conversation on the podcast, Robert Shiller, the Yale economics professor, says the failure of the Congressional supercommittee to reach a compromise on trimming the United States budget deficit sends the wrong signals about unemployment. Will Congress transcend partisanship and agree on programs that will create jobs, putting the long-term unemployed back to work? In the Economic View column in Sunday Business, he says that this is a truly critical problem, but that it isn’t being treated as such by political leaders. And the inability of the economics profession to reach a consensus on the effects of fiscal stimulus hasn’t helped matters, he says.

In a separate discussion, Natasha Singer tells David Gillen about the Freedom Group, a little-known power in the American gun business which is the focus of her cover article in Sunday Business.  Backed by Cerberus Capital Management, a giant private equity firm, Freedom Group now controls the 195-year-old Remington Arms, as well as Bushmaster Firearms and DPMS Firearms, leading makers of military-style semiautomatics.  

You can find specific segments of the podcast at these junctures: Gretchen Morgenson on derivative trading (30:41); news headlines (22:38); the American gun business (19:00); Robert Shiller (9:35); the week ahead (1:33).

As articles discussed in the podcast are published during the weekend, links will be added to this post.

You can download the program by subscribing from The New York Times’s podcast page or directly from iTunes.

Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=fe23a99eaed45e1bb97d44b3973ed65a

Filed Under: Economy News Tagged With: , ,

Economix Blog: Weekend Business Podcast: Jobs Report, European Debt and the Flat Tax

November 5, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Each month, the Labor Department issues a report on jobs and unemployment. It would be a relief to get one showing that jobs are being created in large numbers in the United States, and that unemployment in rapidly sinking.

But we will have to keep waiting: that, alas, was not the report that the Labor Department released for October.

Instead, like so many monthly tallies before it, the latest report paints a picture of an economy that isn’t creating enough jobs to keep up with population growth, Catherine Rampell says in the new Weekend Business podcast. While the unemployment rate dipped slightly, from 9.1 to 9.0 percent, the drop was so slight that it might well be a statistical anomaly.

Heightened uncertainty from the Greek financial crisis has affected the global economy and the markets. It’s the focus of my column in Sunday Business, as I mention on the podcast. And as Gretchen Morgenson says on the podcast, the crisis has already caused collateral damage in the United States. It contributed to the downfall of MF Global, the financial firm that went into bankruptcy last week. It had been headed by Jon Corzine, the former governor and senator from New Jersey and a former chief of Goldman Sachs. She writes about some of the broader implications of the firm’s failure in her Sunday Business column.

In this presidential campaign season, proposals for the institution of a flat tax have re-emerged but they are likely to go nowhere once again, in the opinion of Robert Frank, the Cornell economist. He discusses his Economic View column in Sunday Business, which says that while flat taxes are attention-getters, they would add to the growing income inequality in the United States.

And in a separate conversation in the podcast, David Gillen talks to Evelyn Rusli about Reid Hoffman, the founder of LinkedIn, who has become an increasingly important figure in Silicon Valley.

You can find specific segments of the podcast at these junctures: Catherine Rampell on the jobs report (31:11); news headlines (22:55); Evelyn Rusli on LinkedIn (20:51); Gretchen Morgenson on the European crisis (15:36); Robert Frank on flat taxes (9:51); the week ahead (1:36).

As articles discussed in the podcast are published during the weekend, links will be added to this post.

You can download the program by subscribing from The New York Times’s podcast page or directly from iTunes.

Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=94f3d19edf7bce6ebc5b5fa3569b5b76

Filed Under: Economy News Tagged With: , ,

Economix Blog: Weekend Business: Podcast: European Debt, Bank Settlement Talks, Fed Policy and Jim Collins

October 29, 2011 by Leave a Comment

European leaders reached agreement this week on a far-reaching package aimed at resolving the Greek debt problem, recapitalizing vulnerable banks and bolstering the euro zone’s financial rescue fund. Stock markets around the world rallied on the news.

But in the new Weekend Business podcast, Nelson Schwartz, a Times financial writer, says that the details of the plan are vague — and that many questions remain. There have been several European rescue packages, with euphoric reactions in the market, but the mood has dampened after each one, he says, and it may well do so again.

Gretchen Morgenson discusses the settlement talks under way between financial institutions that may be responsible for mortgage foreclosure misconduct and, on the other side, state attorneys general and the federal government. As she writes in her Sunday Business column, actual cash payments of $1,500 are envisioned in a possible settlement for people who were erroneously evicted from their homes. This may strike people who have lost their homes as a low figure, she suggests.

In a conversation with David Gillen, Jim Collins discusses a new book, “Great by Choice: Uncertainty, Chaos, and Luck — Why Some Thrive Despite Them All,” which he wrote with Morten T. Hansen. An article adapted from the book appears in Sunday Business.

And Christina Romer, the Berkeley economist who was chairwoman of the Council of Economic Advisers, discusses her suggestions for a new approach at the Federal Reserve. In the Economic View column in Sunday Business, she recommends that Ben S. Bernanke, the Fed chairman, take bold action, much as Paul Volcker did when he was the chairman years ago. Mr. Volcker began to target the growth of the money supply in his fight to curb inflation. Now, she says, the Fed should begin to target nominal growth of the gross domestic product in an effort to restore vitality to the economy.

You can find specific segments of the podcast at these junctures: Europe’s debt accord (35:33); news headlines (28:22); Jim Collins (25:16); the mortgage settlement talks (15:17); Christina Romer (10:06); the week ahead (2:01).

You can download the program by subscribing from The New York Times’s podcast page or directly from iTunes.

Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=0ca9c94c9994184beb4caa721616ddaa

Filed Under: Economy News Tagged With: , ,