May 21 How One Economics Reporter Experienced His Own Mortgage Meltdown Paul Solman: Who knew? I’ve been reading Ed Andrews since he took over the New York Times patents column back in the late 1980s, and I followed him following the housing crisis. But until the… Continue reading
May 20 Ask Behavioral Economist Dan Ariely Your Questions About the Economic Crisis and Human Behavior Editor’s Note: Dan Ariely, a noted behavioral economist at Duke University and author of Predictably Irrational, is different from many of his economist colleagues. Ariely studies irrationality in economic behavior — despite the fact that economics is largely… Continue reading
May 20 Why Were Banks Allowed to Bet on Derivatives? Question: How did the dollar volume of U.S. mortgages get to be such a huge dollar problem? Did derivatives do that? Why are investment banks allowed to bet 34 dollars for only one they have? Paul Solman: First, a word… Continue reading
May 19 Why Are Credit Card Companies Raising Rates on Good Borrowers? Question: My wife’s credit card has been paid off in full, every month, for at least 10 years running (since we have been married). In fact, there usually is a 2-3 dollar “credit” balance every month. (I always round up… Continue reading
May 18 How Does Cutting Dealers Save the Automakers Money? Question: I keep hearing that GM has to shed brands and cut dealerships, but I don’t understand it. Is the logic simply that GM makes too many distinct carlines to be profitable given its total sales volume? Economies of… Continue reading
May 15 How Does Executive Pay Compare Around the World? Question: How does U.S. executive compensation compare to their counterparts around the world, such as Japan, Europe, Russia, Turkey? Paul Solman: I don’t know what constitutes executive compensation in Russia, but compared to Japan, Europe, Turkey (Turkey?) and pretty much… Continue reading
May 14 What’s the Story With Regulating Derivatives? By Business Desk Question: What’s going on with the just-announced regulatory reform of derivatives? Paul Solman: Plenty. And you could say it’s about time. One of the leading scandals of recent years (and that’s no easy feat, considering how crooked a track… Continue reading
May 13 Why Doesn’t the Government Set Up a New Bank to Get the Economy Moving Again? Question: I’ve been watching the difficulties the government has had propping up the banks — the lack of control, the salaries, the fact that they’re trying to fix entities with a lot of toxicity on their balance sheets. The following… Continue reading
May 12 What’s the Real Madoff Math? By Business Desk Tonight, FRONTLINE tackles the Bernard Madoff affair, attempting to decipher the puzzle of the financier’s multi-billion dollar Ponzi scheme. The program delves into the cast of characters involved in the case, including the… Continue reading
May 12 Who Owns the Credit Card Companies? Question: Who owns the credit card companies? Once upon a time, Bank of America owned Visa, but I’m not sure if it’s been spun off. So, if the stress tests have shown that the banks are not as healthy as… Continue reading