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A Quick Look at Bloomberg News's Opinion Section for March 13, 2012

Let's start the morning off with some conventional wisdom, shall we:

1) The Obama stimulus package played a big factor in the improving economy;
2) Israel is on the verge of striking Iran's nuclear sites;
3) Students gain valuable experience studying abroad;
4) A Greek default would set off an economic crisis

Now, let's debunk it all:

1) View columnist Ramesh Ponnuru: "Democrats say the economic recovery shows
that the stimulus bill that President Barack Obama signed in 2009 worked.
Republicans deny it. Although we can’t know how the economy would be faring
if Congress hadn’t passed a stimulus, we have good reason to doubt that it
did much good. Media fact-check organizations have no such doubts.
Factcheck.org says it’s 'just false' to deny that the stimulus has created
jobs. It cites the Congressional Budget Office’s estimate that the stimulus
had saved or created millions of jobs. But the CBO, as its director has
explained, hasn’t really checked the effect of the stimulus. It has merely
reported what the results of additional federal spending and tax credits
would be if you assume that spending and tax credits are stimulative. In
other words: If you assume that stimulus works, it must have worked."
[2]Link.
Links:
2. http://bloom.bg/Al8WIC

2) View columnist Jeffrey Goldberg: "I’m talking about the belief, advanced
to me by a former senior Israeli military official, and echoed by other
non-insane people, that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is
bluffing: He has never had any intention of launching air and missile
strikes against Iran’s nuclear program, and is working behind the scenes
with Obama to stop Iran through sanctions. In this interpretation, what
Netanyahu has been doing -- for the past 15 years, in and out of office --
is creating conditions in which U.S., Western and Arab leaders believe that
they must deny Iran its dream of nuclear weapons or else suffer the chaotic
fallout of a precipitous, paranoia-driven Israeli attack." [3]Link.
Links:
3. http://bloom.bg/xHkZfD

3) Op-Ed contributor Richard Vedder: "Study abroad is a marketing tool and
in some cases a cash cow for universities ... For all the talk about
promoting global awareness and cultural diversity, these programs are
arguably a financial racket. They free up space in dorms and classrooms on
the home campus for other 'customers,' and are a marketing tool to convince
parents (sometimes incorrectly) that their children are getting a superior
education. Unfortunately, the pressures to study abroad are only increasing.
Employers are starting to expect that experience to appear on resumes of
college graduates."[4] Link.
Links:
4. http://bloom.bg/A20z2f

4) The View editors: "The International Swaps and Derivatives Association, a
trade group of large financial institutions, euphemistically calls Greece’s
debt deal a 'credit event.' The rest of the world calls it what it is: a
default. Still, no panic has ensued; no contagion has swept over U.S. banks.
On Monday, the world’s bourses held steady. Yields on large, financially
strapped sovereigns, including Spain and Italy, ticked up only slightly. The
financial markets, it seems, are treating the CDS trigger as a nonevent. All
of this is a healthy sign that credit-default swaps remain effective
instruments to transfer and hedge risk. Banks and other financial
institutions rely on the instruments to protect against losses." [5]Link.
Links:
5. http://bloom.bg/xvwzOy

Also, the View editors see an opportunity in an Afghan atrocity; columnist
Edward Glaeser investigates geographic disparities in U.S. housing costs;
and op-ed contributor Hannes H. Gissurarson reports on the trial of a former
Icelandic prime minister.


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