The mortgage meltdown and ensuing financial crisis were the result of an unprecedented accumulation of weak and risky Non-Traditional Mortgages (NTMs). By mid-2008 about one-half of outstanding all loans were NTMs. The early 1990s is the appropriate benchmark since shortly thereafter government policies required the broad-based introduction of “flexible underwriting standards.”

How did the financial system accumulate an unprecedented number of risky mortgages?

Until the legislative process takes into account the long-term consequences of short-term policy actions (and inactions), we have no assurance that Medicare can be saved.

John Pomfret's front page article in the Washington Post on the Obama administration's arm twisting of the Dalai Lama is further reason to doubt that the president's "strategic reassurance" policy is anything but a policy of appeasing the PRC.

Testimonyregarding thesubprime mortgage crisis to the U.S. House of Representatives.

Austerity measures in Europe have been the topic of a heated and mostly confused debate in the economic world. During the May summit of the leading industrial nations at Camp David, German chancellor Angela Merkel and other European leaders pushed for continued European austerity. Keynesian critics argue that these policies destroy economic growth.

Please note this event will be held in Aspen, Colorado. This event will discuss the current financial crisis and the future of the American economy.

A credible long-run fiscal plan should not in any way dilute the short-run fiscal stimulus that the U.S. economy so desperately needs at this time.