to put it in perspective

some young people (less now than before koolaid of my father was released) have a hard time understanding how national politics is relevant to their everyday lives.  this is especially true in cases when the topic of discussion is how to spend dollar figures that have more zeros behind them than Isoroku Yamamoto.  some individuals [...]

well that clears it up

Can’t Grasp Credit Crisis? Join the Club

actually really well-written and informative, I’m sure this knowledge will come in handy for appearing intelligent what with all the cocktail parties I attend…

and what happens when all the rich people want to move back into the city?

well you kick out all the poor people, of course.  But what if tenants are endowed with limited power to prevent owners from selling their buildings to developers?  Make their lives so miserable that they have no choice but to move out.  This story was also discussed in last week’s This American Life, in the [...]

death of suburbia?

“The subprime crisis is just the tip of the iceberg. Fundamental changes in American life may turn today’s McMansions into tomorrow’s tenements.”

It doesn’t really address the impact gentrification has on the urban landscape, but that’s not really what it’s about.
The Next Slum?

interview with a hedge fund manager

really interesting interview with the manager of a large hedge fund, covering the current state of the dollar, the subprime mortgage crisis, etc…
n+1: So the Moody’s ratings were like [taking for granted] the water running…
HFM [hedge fund manager]: Exactly. Triple-A is triple-A. But there were people who made a ton of money in the sub-prime [...]

Cold Fronts and Subprime Mortgages

Interesting short in the NYT, regarding the 4 things “they” learned about economics in 2007.  I was most surprised by 2 and 4—the facts that a significant number of subprime mortgages were approved due to fraud on the side of the applicants, rather than solely negligent actions on the part of the lenders, and the [...]