<![CDATA[Anthony Randazzo - Articles - RealClearPolitics]]>http://www.realclearpolitics.com/authors/rss/archive/19631.xmlAuthor <![CDATA[Will We Have Economic Recovery in 2013?]]> Thu, 08 Nov 2012 00:00:00 -0600 <![CDATA[How QE3 Helps the Rich, Soaks the Rest of Us]]> Sun, 16 Sep 2012 00:00:00 -0500 The decision is in: Unlimited quantitative easing. That was the announcement from the Federal Open Market Committee this afternoon, launching a third round of purchases of securities in a bid to boost the economy and reduce unemployment. This time, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and crew are pledging to buy $40 billion per month until the economy improves. The Fed's policy committee also extended its zero-interest rate policy until "at least mid-2015." If QE3 lasts that long, the Feds will be printing at least another $800 billion to buy mortgage-backed securities.  

It won't be a surprise to read conservatives lambasting this as unconventional monetary policy meant to...]]> <![CDATA[How Government Props Up Big Finance]]> Tue, 22 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0600

Since medieval times, writers and ethicists have counted envy among the seven deadly sins. In utilitarian terms, envy is at best a zero-sum game because it can only be satisfied when someone loses.

Given this moral and practical failing, it is a shame that envy plays such a large role in the Occupy Wall Street protests spread around the country. And, yet, the Occupy movement does have a point that transcends this negative emotion: the financial industry has grown large on the backs of government handouts, manipulated regulation, and taxpayer bailouts.

While there is no objective size the financial industry should be, it is fair to say it would never have become this...]]> <![CDATA[Rights, Wrongs About the Financial Meltdown]]> Sun, 02 May 2010 00:00:00 -0500 Released two years after the historic failure of investment bank Bear Stearns, The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine, the new book by financial journalist extraordinaire Michael Lewis, doesn't have a lot of new information to offer us. We already know well-educated idiots had too much control on Wall Street. We already know the ratings agencies offered less accurate analyses of the market than the best guesses of a fifth grade math class. And we already know the banks gamed the system by taking advantage of poorly conceived accounting rules. Still, Lewis' masterful tale of the known is a must read for all trying to understand why the economy fell apart.

Anyone frightened away...]]>