Added on April 20, 2010
sherry
America , American , american management association , Anil , anil hira , corporate champions , health infrastructure , Hira , information , information technology accounting , labor , Outsourcing , Paul Craig Roberts , professor , rochester institute of technology , Ron , security , service , simon fraser university , social security systems , state of denial , technology , University , US
By Dr. Paul Craig Roberts
Is offshore outsourcing good or harmful for America? To convince Americans of outsourcing’s benefits, corporate outsourcers sponsor misleading one-sided “studies.”
Only a small handful of people have looked objectively at the issue. These few and the large number of Americans whose careers have been destroyed by outsourcing have a different view of outsourcing’s impact. But so far there has been no debate, just a shouting down of skeptics as “protectionists.”
Now comes an important new book, Outsourcing America, published by the American Management Association. The authors, two brothers, Ron and Anil Hira, are experts on the subject. One is a professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology, and the other is professor at Simon Fraser University.
The authors note that despite the enormity of the stakes for all Americans, a state of denial exists among policymakers and outsourcing’s corporate champions about the adverse effects on the US. The Hira brothers succeed in their task of interjecting harsh reality where delusion has ruled.
Added on March 30, 2010
sm
Alan Greenspan , America , Anna Schwartz , bank , biggest banks , Bush , Camden , chairman , Council on Foreign Relations , Crisis , Dean , Deputy Treasury , economist , Ed Prescott , Federal , Federal Reserve Bank , federal reserve bank of dallas , Finance , global stage , Hubbard Simon Johnson , Joseph Stiglitz , Luigi Zingales , Marc Faber Professor , Mervyn King , Milton Friedman , Neal S. Wolin , New York , other government agencies , Paul Volcker , percent , President George W , professor , R. , regulatory challenge , regulatory regime , Reserve , Richard Fisher - President , risk exposures , Sheila Bair , TBTF , Thomas Hoenig , tidal waves , U.S. , Washington , William K. Black , Winston Churchill
hat tip: Washington’s blog
Monday, March 29, 2010
On March 3rd, Richard Fisher – President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas – told the Council on Foreign Relations:
A truly effective restructuring of our regulatory regime will have to neutralize what I consider to be the greatest threat to our financial system’s stability—the so-called too-big-to-fail, or TBTF, banks. In the past two decades, the biggest banks have grown significantly bigger. In 1990, the 10 largest U.S. banks had almost 25 percent of the industry’s assets. Their share grew to 44 percent in 2000 and almost 60 percent in 2009.
The existing rules and oversight are not up to the acute regulatory challenge imposed by the biggest banks. First, they are sprawling and complex—so vast that their own management teams may not fully understand their own risk exposures. If that is so, it would be futile to expect that their regulators and creditors could untangle all the threads, especially under rapidly changing market conditions. Second, big banks may believe they can act recklessly without fear of paying the ultimate penalty. They and many of their creditors assume the Fed and other government agencies will cushion the fall and assume the damages, even if their troubles stem from negligence or trickery. They have only to look to recent experience to confirm that assumption.
Some argue that bigness is not bad, per se. Many ask how the U.S. can keep its competitive edge on the global stage if we cede LFI territory to other nations—an argument I consider hollow given the experience of the Japanese and others who came to regret seeking the distinction of having the world’s biggest financial institutions. I know this much: Big banks interact with the economy and financial markets in a multitude of ways, creating connections that transcend the limits of industry and geography. Because of their deep and wide connections to other banks and financial institutions, a few really big banks can send tidal waves of troubles through the financial system if they falter, leading to a downward spiral of bad loans and contracting credit that destroys many jobs and many businesses.
