Seeing as how the U.S. government is going to spend $700 billion (the cost of the Iraq War) in a bailout "rescue plan", buying up distressed toxic worthless assets from poorly mismanaged investment banks, many individuals are wanting to cash in. So welcome to www.buymyshitpile.com, and maybe you too can get on the gravy train. Newsday says the site "captur[es] … Read More
A Good Primer On AIG
Since you now effectively own part of AIG, you might want to know what you’ve bought. If you’re like me, you’ll have to read paragraphs twice, but this is a workable primer on the whole AIG bailout. BTW, here’s a very good cartoon slide show on the subprime mess — a subprime primer, if you will. It’s from May, so … Read More
Whoa, Whoa, Whoa….
BERNAKE, PAULSON URGE SPEEDY BAILOUT reads the headline right now at MSNBC. Speedy. Gotta do it. Right NOW. But why? I find myself influenced by today’s NYT op-ed: With all due respect to Mr. Paulson, who is widely regarded as a smart and fine man, we need to slow this process down. We got into this mess by handing out … Read More
More On The Bailout
(1) Good post from Ezra Klein explaining five things wrong with it (2) Isn’t it amusing how conservative Republicans are suddenly indignant about overreaching executive branch power with no oversight? (3) Japan and Europe tell us they won’t go along with our bailouts corporate welfare, and refuse to make their taxpayers finance the corporate mistakes. And Angela Merkel asks an interesting question: if this … Read More
Why Paulson Is Wrong
Look, we all know what is going on. Paulson is proposing a system wherein profits go to investors, but losses become socialized. That is NOT what Adam Smith envisioned. It’s not even capitalism. Read "Why Paulson is wrong," a two page essay being circulated by Luigi Zingales, the Robert C. McCormack Professor of Entrepreneurship and Finance at the University of … Read More
The Nationalizaion Of Mortgage Finance
The latest update is that Paulson is looking to spend $1.8 trillion to bailout and essentially socialize the investment banking industry. Just to give you an idea about how much money that is, here’s some comparisons, from the 2007 Bush budget. * Veterans’ benefits at $73 billion* Education was $90 billion* Interest on US debt was $244 billion* Medicare $395 … Read More
The Reich Proposals
What should Wall Street give up in order to get the blank check from the government (i.e. us, the taxpayers)? Robert Reich has some ideas I like: 1. The government (i.e. taxpayers) gets an equity stake in every Wall Street financial company proportional to the amount of bad debt that company shoves onto the public. So when and if Wall … Read More
So Much For Republicans Being Seen As The Good Guys With Your Money
What a difference a week makes: As the country falls into financial crisis, it turns its lonely eyes to the Democrat.
So Much For Republicans Being Seen As The Good Guys With Your Money
What a difference a week makes: As the country falls into financial crisis, it turns its lonely eyes to the Democrat.
The Financial Markets
Whhhheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
The Economic Outlook Is GREAT….
…if you’re an oil company. They’ve enjoyed record profits this quarter: Profits at oil companies this quarter continued to reflect oil prices that almost doubled in the second quarter from the year earlier. Exxon Mobil on Thursday reported that second-quarter profit rose 14 percent, to $11.68 billion, the highest-ever profit by an American company. Exxon broke its own record. The … Read More
The Beast Has A Credit Card
Thank you, David Stockman. For those of you who don’t remember, Stockman was director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Reagan. He was among the most enthusiastic converts to what came to be called the “starve the beast” theory of taxation. The Republican theory is that big government — well, government in general — is baaad. There’s … Read More
Bush’s Off Camera Comment
First, the video: Bush was speaking at a July 18 fundraiser for Pete Olsen. The first moments form the event find him speaking almost incoherently in admitting, for once, that his friends in big business had screwed up: "There’s no question about it. Wall Street got drunk —that’s one of the reasons I asked you to turn off the TV … Read More
It May Be Cheaper To Ship Your Luggage Than To Travel With It
Seems to work best if you have 2 or more bags: With airlines charging ever higher fees for the right to lose your luggage, you might find it cheaper — if not safer — to ship your bag than check it. Airfarewatchdog put together a handy chart showing how much airlines are charging to check your bag. Most U.S. airlines … Read More
A Useful Set of Graphs
Presidents and the economy. In the graphs, the parties are color-coded by the traditional Republican red and Democratic blue. Individual terms are in a lighter shade, and the party average is the darker shade. Technical note Unless otherwise noted, the figure shown is average annual growth rate for a president’s term, from the year, quarter, or month of inauguration to … Read More