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• Ashutosh Agrawal on Buffett's Most Important Investment?: Great article!Great article!
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• Shu Dar Yao on How Will the Financial Crisis Affect the Base of the Pyramid?: IFC, the private sector arm of the World Bank, recently launched a slew of initiatives aimed at ...MoreIFC, the private sector arm of the World Bank, recently launched a slew of initiatives aimed at filling the gap of commercial financing, per the below link. I think the Bank Recap Fund is exactly the kind of response that you're talking about in this posting Luke. But certainly it is within the IFC's mandate to recapitalize local banks in dev markets. I'd be much more interested in seeing how banks, such as JPMorgan or Morgan Stanley, that were just starting to explore the bottom of the pyramid, are reacting in this capital constrained climate. Are they pulling back their experimental investments in microfinance funds or do they perhaps see it as an opportunity to diversify into "decoupled" economies? http://www.ifc.org/ifcext/media.nsf/content/SelectedPressRelease?OpenDocument&UNID=E915A6E933FD599E85257523007974CD
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• Sander Hicks on Ayn Rand: Prophet or Scapegoat?: RE: "Or was Greenspan somehow following Objectivist principles while running the Fed?" OR did he ...MoreRE: "Or was Greenspan somehow following Objectivist principles while running the Fed?" OR did he go from following an obsessed anticommunist, to launching into the frontiers of his own dogma, similar to Rand, and equally as rigid? In his 2007 autobiography, Greenspan wrote that although "the broader philosophy of unfettered market competition [is] compelling," he saw contradictions in Rand... agrees with her with "qualifications." All you have to do is quickly look over the Frontline piece on Brooksley Born, former head of the CFTC under Bush. At lunch with Greenspan, he told her the government had no business doing any regulation at all, and should turn a blind eye to outright "fraud." The best autopsies on the credit crunch and subsequent meltdown lays a fair share of the blame at the feet of Greenspan. He kept interest rates obsessively low, and was inordinately obsessed with asset prices. His political association with Rand shows a dangerous proclivity for anti-democratic politics and thus monetary policy. Why do only undergraduates and high school bohemians read Rand? It's cold war crap.
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• Clara on Ayn Rand: Prophet or Scapegoat?: Ron Paul is the only Republican office-holder in our lifetimes who has consistently upheld Randian ...MoreRon Paul is the only Republican office-holder in our lifetimes who has consistently upheld Randian principles. Who are all these GOP voters who supposedly vote with Atlas Shrugged in mind? Not those who supported Bush's protectionism and expansion of the welfare state. Not those who are deeply religious -- as Ayn Rand regarded religious belief as the enemy of both rational thought and self-esteem. Using Ayn Rand's character flaws to vilify Republicans is such a non-sequitur that it reflects little on the Republican Party as we know it, but speaks volumes about the ignorance of people who criticize Rand without understanding her ideas.
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• Hayek on Ayn Rand: Prophet or Scapegoat?: No matter how deeply leftists may want to cling to the notion that Greenspan has spilled the beans ...MoreNo matter how deeply leftists may want to cling to the notion that Greenspan has spilled the beans on the 'truth' that free market ideology created this crisis - the truth is that with a central planning board at the Fed setting the cost of money, the seeds of this crisis lie in Socialism. What is 'quaint' is the notion that bureaucrats with spreadsheets can determine incentive structures better shareholders (who face massive losses). Gold standard anyone?
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