On The Economic Populist you might have noticed the middle column. We try to list other sites and blogs who have exceptional insight and writing on what is happening in the U.S. economy.

Sometimes though, one cannot say it better but miss those who did.

Must Read Post #1

Robert Reich gets his outrage on and calls the Economic Recovery a Sham:

The US economy grew at a 5.9 percent annual rate in the fourth quarter of 2009. That sounds good until you realize GDP figures are badly distorted by structural changes in the economy. For example, part of the increase is due to rising health care costs. When WellPoint ratchets up premiums, that enlarges the GDP. But you’d have to be out of your mind to consider this evidence of a recovery.

Reich is influential and it's great to see him use macro economic data to point out there is no economic recovery for main stream, which has also been amplified on this site.

Must Read Post #2

The SEC is begging Congress to enact oversight on derivatives:

The government's top securities regulator called Thursday for Congress to impose new oversight on financial derivatives, warning that allowing risky instruments like credit default swaps to continue unfettered could bring further economic damage.

The chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Mary Schapiro, said banks that deal in the swaps must be subject to rigorous requirements for holding capital. They must also conduct their business in accordance with rules and their price information must be transparent, she said.

Something we are aware of in the House Financial Reform Bill, loopholes:

Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Gary Gensler, said Wall Street banks are seeking exemptions to the proposed new regulations for derivatives that could shield more than half the trades that should be subject to disclosure. Gensler criticized Wall Street's stance on proposed oversight for the shadowy $600 trillion market for derivatives – blamed for hastening the 2008 financial crisis.

Must Read Post #3

Gotta love this one. China may face a massive Bank Bail out, to the tune of $350 billion dollars.

China may be forced to bail out banks that made loans for local-government projects under the unprecedented stimulus program unleashed in 2008, according to Citigroup Inc. and Northwestern University’s Victor Shih.

In a “worst-case scenario,” the non-performing loans of local-government investment vehicles could climb to 2.4 trillion yuan ($350 billion) by 2011, Shen Minggao, Citigroup’s Hong Kong-based chief economist for greater China, said yesterday.

“The most likely case is that the Chinese government will engineer a massive financial bailout of the financial sector,” said Shih, a professor who spent months researching borrowing by about 8,000 local government entities.

Must Read Post #4

For profit Trade Schools sucker in the desperate. These numbers are astounding on tuition rates. $40k a hear for tech trade school. Trust me, there is no way a 2 year tech graduate is going to earn enough to pay back $80k, if they can even find a job and odds are that job will be foreign H-1B Visa holder preferred.

There are more examples, but $30k a year and more tuition for trade school, when the credits often do not even transfer to a 4 year accredited college or university? Wow.

Must Read Post #5

Naked Capitalism overviews an article, Indefensible Men, showing the theft party on Wall Street is continuing:

A year on from its brush with Armageddon, the financial services industry has resumed its reckless, self-serving ways It isn’t hard to see why this has aroused simmering rage in normally complacent, pro-capitalist Main Street America. The budget commitments to salvaging the financial sector come to nearly $3 trillion, equivalent to more than $20,000 per federal income tax payer. To add insult to injury, the miscreants have also availed themselves of more welfare programs in the form of lending facilities and guarantees, totaling nearly $12 trillion, not all of which will prove to be money well spent.