The Dow Jones lost 778 points – a record – and I personally lost about $8000 in paper/play money today after the House failed to approve the compromise banking bailout plan. Thanks for nothing, guys. Loren Steffy says that things may get really ugly now: This long ago stopped being about mortgages, and it’s no…
Category: Finance
Conservatives Oppose Bailout
A Right Wing News poll shows that what I’d call hard-core conservatives oppose the bailout of Wall Street investment firms by an overwhelming margin. Current results: Loath as I am to lend support to people and corporations whose failure is undeniable, doing so seems to be the smart thing rather than sticking to principle while…
Our Boat is Sinking – Should We Bail?
A lot of people agree with me in thinking the Paulson-Bernanke bailout plan needs to be thought out a lot more before it’s given the go-ahead. Seems obvious and it looks like it’s going to happen. Newt Gingrich says that conservatives in Congress are confused by the fact that it’s a Republican administration’s proposal: If…
Bailing Out the Greedy
If the Powers That Be follow through with their plan to spend $700B dollars to buy up some of the bad debt that is dragging financial companies down, the net effect will be to bail the greedy and the stupid out of the consequences of their greed and stupidity. This sort of dramatic rescue may…
We Can’t Afford Barack Obama
The Wall Street Journal says what I’ve been saying all along, that we can’t afford to allow Barack Obama to implement his idea of "economic fairness". Obama economic advisers Jason Furman and Austan Goolsbee noted that taxpayers whose incomes exceeded $250,000 would face an additional Social Security payroll tax increase of four percentage points (in…
Mortgage Co. Bailout
Two actions by the feds in D.C. are aimed at bailing out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two large mortgage finance companies that are being dragged down by the domino effect of the mortgage mess we’ve gotten ourselves into. The NY Times says: Alarmed by the sharply eroding confidence in the nation’s two largest mortgage…
Recessionary Whining
Phil Gramm says that Americans whine too much about the problems in their lives and that the recession that many economists and pundits say we’re in is largely a product of their bruised psyches. Gramm: "You’ve heard of mental depression; this is a mental recession…" "We may have a recession; we haven’t had one yet."…
Save Your Home from a Wildfire, go to Jail
Ross Curtis, along with family and friends, saved his Big Sur home from being destroyed by a wildfire. Moreover the backfire he set seems to have helped officials contain the blaze. His thanks? Curtis was arrested and changed with 2 misdemeanors for his trouble. As the fire closed in on three sides, Micah Curtis said,…
Yes on GI Bill, No on Timing
It’s got to be heartbreaking for President Bush and John McCain to be on the wrong side of the GI Bill debate. Interestingly, their position exemplifies what Democrats have failed to recognize in the nearly 2 years since taking over Congress: responsibility brings with it the requirement to do unpleasant things. Mark Kleiman says that…
Credit Crash Coming?
At the Washington Post, Kevin Phillps compares financial and business trends in the U.S. to those of other, failed global empires and finds our situation unenviable: The U.S. economy faces unprecedented debt levels, soaring commodity prices and sliding home prices, to say nothing of a weak dollar. Despite the recent stabilization of the economy, some…