When the Senate Banking Committee meets Wednesday to question Jamie Dimon about the massive trading loss at JPMorgan Chase (JPM), its five most senior members will have one thing in common: a heavy reliance on campaign contributions from the politically connected New York bank.  (Crony capitalism at its finest. American Banker)

Every day seems to bring another forecast of impending economic doom in Europe. Wild stock market swings ,rioting in the streets, “dollar liquidity swap arrangements,” leveraging the European Financial Stability Mechanism” — what are these people, with their foreign tongues and funny names, talking about? We’ve put together an FAQ (in English, natch) for those who are not just confused, but hopelessly mired in ignorance. (The Absolute Moron’s Guide to the Euro Debt Crisis Part 1 and Part 2 – NY Mag)

Soon after the president dropped his ill-advised “the private sector is doing fine” gaffe, White House press secretary Jay Carney scolded the media for failing to frame the comment in the proper “context.” Which is weird, because the context is the worst part.

Yes, government “creates” jobs, often out of thin air. The private sector creates wealth—which, in turn, allows us to fund the vital work of sending weapons to Mexican drug lords and prosecuting Roger Clemens. (Create Wealth, Not Jobs – David Harsanyi – Reason)

It’s very difficult for us to explain, on the fundamental basis,  why the market has been so bid over the past few days after Monday’s ugly reversal. Could this be it? (Sniffing the Romney Rally? Global Macro Monitor) By the way, it was June of 1980 when Reagan went ahead of Carter. Just sayin’.

From the Austerity works files:

Today, the Estonian government can claim victory. Last year, Estonia’s GDP grew by 7.6 percent, the highest growth rate in Europe and high growth continues. All the three Baltic countries have pursued similar economic policies and the results are similarly spectacular. Christine Lagarde, the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund just presided at a conference in Riga with the title “Against the Odds: lessons from the Recovery in the Baltics.”

Professor Paul Krugman, Nobel Laureate in economics, however, denigrates the Estonian achievement with reference to the big output fall of a total of 18 percent in 2008-9. President Toomas Ilves has rightly taken Krugman to task. A Nobel Prize does not mean that you are always right or that you do not need to check the facts. (Why Tomas Ilves Is Right and Paul Krugman Wrong – Anders Aslund)

Many, including me, believed that keeping the peg was likely to be a recipe for disaster, for a long and painful adjustment at best, or more likely, the eventual abandonment of the peg when failure became obvious.

Nevertheless, given the strong commitment of both Latvia and its European Union partners, the IMF went ahead with a program which kept the peg and included a strongly front-loaded fiscal adjustment.

Four years later, Latvia has one of the highest growth rates in Europe, the peg has held, and the fiscal and current accounts are close to balance. (Lessons From Latvia – Olivier Blanchard IMF)