Category Archive

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

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

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

(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

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 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

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

Whhhheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

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

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