Twelve years into the 21st century, the dominant financial and economic fact is that we are still living in the wake of athe vast housing and mortgage bubble, which peaked in mid-2006, almost six years ago.  

From the perspective of the corporate profit and loss statement, a trading loss is one expense item in the context of all revenues and expenses. So $2 billion should be compared to the bank's $26.7 billion in pretax profits for 2011, suggesting a reduction of something less than 10 percent in annual profit.

Long-term trends in the evolution of banks help explain the bubbles in both commercial and residential real estate credit, increasing bank failures, and the insolvency of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

At this event, our panel of experts will share their thoughts on Bubble Trouble.

2010 may be the best year to die, or at least your heirs may think so. This AEI conference will examine the economic effects of the estate tax, which will be eliminated for those who die next year. Should it be extended, reformed, or abolished?

China is heading for a hard landing in 2012 or 2013 for three reasons: Excess capacity tied to overstimulation of investment in export industries and weak domestic demand growth, a bursting speculative bubble in its real estate sector, and a sharp slowdown in global growth.

The Shadow Financial RegulatoryCommittee supports the federal banking authorities" jointly issued Guidance on "Concentrations in Commercial Real Estate Lending."