John Templeton Foundation sponsors a “Big Questions” essay series. It posts a philosophical question and invites answers from scientists, scholars, and public figures. A recent Big Question was
Does the free market corrode moral character?
There were 13 answers. John Bogle, founder of Vanguard, gave his answer. Mr. Bogle concluded,
“Fettered” capitalism has indeed corroded our moral character, [...]
It’s interesting how the $700 billion bailout number has become a new benchmark. More popular than “cost of X days in Iraq.” Everything looks so cheap when you compare it against the bailout.
I listened to a program about children’s health insurance on the radio the other day. A guest was talking about State Children’s [...]
An article in Financial Times led me to a good research paper by Luci Ellis, an economist at Bank for International Settlements (BIS). BIS is the “bank for central banks” based in Basel, Switzerland.
The paper confirmed what I suspected when I wrote Mortgage Loans Around the World. Basically the home loan borrowers in the U.S. [...]
I’d like to share some comments on a few pieces I read in the news and blogs.
Preferred Stocks = Subordinated Debt (Credit Slips) - Professor Adam Levitin of Georgetown University looked under the surface of our government’s bank recapitalization deals using preferred stocks, following similar moves by the British government and Warren Buffett’s purchases into [...]
