Economy Jul 27 Tales From the Fed: Rivlin on the Perfect Storm Paul Solman: In preparation for our NewsHour event with Ben Bernanke in Kansas City last night, we interviewed a variety of former Fed officials to discuss the past, present, and future of the central bank. Two especially intriguing interviewees…
Economy Jul 22 Are Geithner and Summers Too Close to Wall Street? Question: Are Timothy Geithner and Larry Summers too close to the players that produced this economic crisis — so close that they will not have the vision, values, or mindset that will allow them to take the difficult steps that…
Economy Jul 20 Is Madoff’s Sentence a Deterrent for Future Swindlers? Question: I wonder whether the Madoff sentence is a sufficient deterrent for future potential criminals. If he is rumored to have stolen approximately $60 billion, then $60billion/150 years comes out to about $400 million per year. That figure is…
Economy Jul 20 Ask Fed Chief Ben Bernanke About the Economy Paul Solman: My longtime motto: There is no big time. But if there were, this might be your chance to become part of it. You can pose an economic question here — not to me or even one of my…
Arts Jul 14 Simon Johnson on China and the U.S. Economy Paul Solman: The second in this week’s series of video exchanges with Simon Johnson of the Peterson Institute of Economics, MIT, and (formerly) the IMF, concerns China.
Economy Jul 13 Simon Johnson on Whether Wall Street Has Changed Paul Solman: MIT’s Simon Johnson, former chief economist at the IMF, is a frequent contributor to the NewsHour and this page. He’s also coauthor of a blog…
Economy Jun 29 What Do You Make of the Madoff Sentence? Question: What do you make of the Madoff sentence? Paul Solman: I’m tempted to say that, at 150 years, he may have gotten off lightly. In today’s email came the regular newsletter of one of the world’s most provocative and…
Economy Jun 25 How Regulatory Reforms Will Affect Consumers (Cont.) Paul Solman: Last week, we featured a number of economists (and a journalist) responding to the new financial regulations proposed by the Obama administration. But no economic historians were among them. We’ve remedied that omission by asking Eugene…
Economy Jun 12 Could the Government Limit the Number of Layoffs a Profitable Company Could Make? Question: Obama and Geithner said they would act aggressively to fix the economy. So, why hasn’t the administration limited the number of employees that profitable companies may lay off? That could help significantly by keeping the unemployment rate down, partially…
Economy Jun 11 What Happens to California State Bonds if the State Goes Bankrupt? Question: I live in California and own California State Bonds. What happens to state bonds if the state goes bankrupt? Paul Solman: They stop paying, both interest and principal. That’s what a default IS. Last September 15, Lehman Brothers…