Both Paul Krugman and Tom Friedman have written columns along the lines that the whole Wall Street bubble over subprime mortgages, derivatives, credit default swaps, etc., was just like Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme. There was no “there” there. It was… Read More »Wall Street Was Ponzi Scheme
I think it’s likely that Israel invaded Gaza now because it wanted to do so while Bush was still President. In a few weeks, Obama will be President, and although he has talked a good game in support of Israel,… Read More »Gaza Strip War with Israel
The Financial Times columnist Munchau is right when he says, “I am sceptical of the Fed’s new policy of quantitative easing. We do not have a liquidity crisis, but a solvency crisis….” There have been a lot of complaints from… Read More »Idiots in Charge of America and the World
Will there be any repercussions for Senate Republicans who blocked passage of the interim auto bailout bill two weeks before Christmas? They basically said to America, we don’t like you; so, we are going to put coal in your stocking… Read More »Repercussions for Republicans?
The auto bankruptcy is too big just to use the regular bankruptcy law. These are not just any companies. The auto industry is the foundation of American industry. So why shouldn’t Congress pass an industry specific bailout law that would… Read More »Auto Bankruptcy
The Financial Times reports that the price of credit default swaps, insurance for corporate debt, has been going up again. The FT interprets this as meaning that the credit crisis is worsening. I interpret it as meaning that Wall Street,… Read More »Idiots on Wall Street
The stock market is now down about 50% from its recent highs. The stock market decline is supposed to be an effect of the housing market bust. Meanwhile, the prices of houses, which are much less liquid and slower to… Read More »More Housing Pain to Come?
Kudos to Helena Cobban for calling on Rahm Emanuel to repudiate his father’s anti-Arab comments to the Ma’ariv newspaper, and for reporting that he has done so. Like her, I am not crazy about having a dual national Israeli-American as… Read More »Rahm Emanuel Apologizes for Father’s Anti-Arab Comments
Thank goodness that Tom Friedman has the sense to see that paying taxes is patriotic. I don’t understand why Republicans don’t want to pay to defend America, why they hate the troops fighting for them in Iraq and Afghanistan, why… Read More »Tom Friedman on Patriotism
On CNN’s Situation Room today Arizona Rep. Shadegg said that John McCain was responsible for torpedoing the first bailout bill. According to Shadegg, in the Cabinet room, McCain said that the bill was not a good bill and that the… Read More »Rep. Shadegg Says McCain Killed First Bailout Bill