Bob Murphy

Author Archive

Murphy and Thornton Take on Paulson and Bernanke; Scott Horton Referees

This was a really fun interview (mp3). Scott always sets up elaborate scenarios or objections. With Mark on the phone, I could be a super geek knowing that he would keep it real.

The Buzz on the Street: Are WaMu Deposits Safe? What About WaMu Stock?

The latest chatter concerns Washington Mutual. Will it sink too? Do its clients need to get out? To WaMu depositors, I would say: Your money (up to $100,000 per account) is insured by FDIC. So in theory it is just as safe (or vulnerable) as everything else that is insured by the feds–and that pile […]

"Henry Paulson, American Oligarch"

Robert Wenzel makes the case in a classic post. An excerpt: We are in the midst of one of the greatest power and money grabs in the history of the world. I am stunned by the Russian style oligarch aggressiveness and boldness of the moves made this weekend, led by Paulson. In a bold strike, […]

Paulson Handcuffs Obama By Empowering Goldman Sachs

The very popular economics blog Marginal Revolution has a very rare mathematical property: The mean insightfulness of the comments left at MR is significantly larger than the median insightfulness of the actual blog posts. Discuss. Anyway, today my jaw literally dropped in awe at the following comment made by “a person”: It is becoming increasingly […]

Did the Market Call Paulson’s Bluff?

As of 10:40 AM Monday morning, the S&P 500 is down almost 1.5%. Notice how the short-term euphoria from the government’s progressively bigger interventions is more and more fleeting, as the months roll by? Investors are apparently starting to realize that Paulson and Bernanke are bluffing. They can’t undo the housing bust. All they can […]

Murphy on Scott Horton Radio Show

We will be discussing the financial mess and (presumably) the relation to an interventionist foreign policy on Monday, from about 12:15 – 1:00 pm EST. You can listen live here, or I’ll provide a link later on when it is archived.

The Government Is Not Promoting Financial Stability

My article today on LRC. A juicy excerpt: Just stop and reflect on what the government has done, even in the last few weeks. It has literally seized (the press’ word, not mine) companies tied to trillions of dollars in assets. Furthermore, these seizures were truly a “hostile takeover.” For example, the common shareholders of […]

Latest Bailout Tally: $1.8 Trillion; Ron Paul Talks Good Sense

This helpful CNBC article tallies up all the government promises to date regarding the crippled financial markets. It’s a shocking $1.8 trillion so far. Below is a very good interview Ron Paul gives to Wolf Blitzer on this mess. (HT2LRC)