What we’re reading (3/28)
“Bank Regulators Eye Tougher Oversight After Silicon Valley Bank Collapse” (Washington Post). “Silicon Valley Bank’s failure was a ‘textbook case of mismanagement’ that shows that banks with more than $100 billion in assets may need tougher oversight, and the government will review the federal insurance program that protects deposits, regulators told a Senate committee looking into the crisis.”
“Investment Firms Have A New Bidding Opponent: Activist Home Flippers” (Wall Street Journal). “Activist flippers say they are leveling the playing field. Many home sellers prefer cash buyers because they are viewed as the fastest and most reliable purchaser. Nonprofits want to offer an alternative—and competitive—all-cash option.”
“I Would Love To Have Enough Time And Money To Go To An Office To Work All Day” (Slate). “Growing prosperity? A choice? Now, that’s interesting. It’s true that most Americans live in a world of material abundance relative to, say, the bog people, but it’s questionable whether their ‘rewards’ for working are ‘growing,’ or whether the United States’ prosperity, as described by measures like gross domestic product, is being made available to them in a way that affords real choices about how to spend time.”
“Sam Bankman-Fried Paid Over $40 Million To Bribe At Least One Official In China, DOJ Alleges In New Indictment” (CNBC). “FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried paid out tens of millions of dollars worth of bribes to at least one Chinese government official, federal prosecutors alleged in a new indictment Tuesday.”
“When Can Waffle House Raise Its Prices?” (American Institute of Economic Research). “If market power were a big deal, companies wouldn’t need the cover of inflation to raise prices. Monopolies can pass on their cost increases and customers can’t flee to other sellers. Under competition — under supply and demand — firms can only raise prices when other firms’ costs rise. With competition, firms will raise prices together, seemingly “under the cover of inflation.” Instead of being evidence that markets are “no longer controlled by competition,” firms raising prices together is evidence of supply and demand at work.”
