Mystery of dolphins’ speed solved BBC
Income Elasticity of Mistress Demand Greg Mankiw
Americans’ Food Stamp Use Nears All-Time High Washington Post
Familiar Trio at Heart of Citi Bailout Washington Post
Woolies on brink despite BBC offer Telegraph
Larry Summers as Fearless Truth Teller? Dean Baker
Synchronized Recession, Synchronized Stimulus? Menzie Chinn
Taxes and Christina Romer Kevin Drum. Effectively says not only does she lie with statistics, but does not lie particularly well.
To Buy Children’s Gifts, Mothers Do Without New York Times
Proof we are not in Kansas any more John Hempton
Remorseful Ex-Officials Decline Pay From UBS New York Times
Fed Risks ‘Spitting in the Wind’ With New $800 Billion Pledge Bloomberg
Fed Aid Sets Off A Rush to Refinance Wall Street Journal. Key section:
Rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages dropped by roughly half a percentage point to about 5.5%, for borrowers with good credit scores and substantial equity in their homes, say mortgage brokers and lenders…. the initial flurry of calls came from people seeking to refinance…
Predictably, the people who are not the target of the program are the first, and maybe the only, ones who to benefit.
Antidote du jour:
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Rubin “”a dual role of providing strategic advice or managerial advice and also to work with clients. And that’s what I’ve done.” Washington Post link.
I have read that Rubin did not want to do anything “operational” but I understood his job was to “think” about risk. First, I’d like a job where I don’t have to “do’ anything, and Second, finally, finally, some critical questions are coming at the people who run the banks and Fed. I used to ask, “Did Hank Paulson know how GS made money?” Now I am asking, “did Geithner know how GS made money? And shouldn’t he have?”
NY Times, 26 Nov 08: “Fed to Print Whatever It Takes.”
Well, there we have it, in black and white; we are embarked upon The Adventure. I would but wish that, as billed, this is the Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Everything in me but the lingering romanticism like the patina of sherry in my empty glass says that this is Ship of Fools, however.
Just read the Hempton piece.
The business about the FDIC insuring bank bonds (Goldman now) really burns me up. The FDIC’s charter is to provide DEPOSIT insurance, not to be the government’s version of AMBAC. So Goldman gets a 100-150bp subsidy (200bp spread minus the 50-100bp in FDIC fees depending on maturity) on their borrowings because they’re backed by the full faith and credit, while offloading their risk onto the taxpayer, and what do we (taxpayers) get?
How can you say that those folks don’t need the help? You don’t know their financial position. Believe me, lots of people not in foreclosure could use the money to ease their budgets. And refinancing fees will give the banks more money in the short term.
A raccoon isn’t an antidote to ANYTHING. Anyone who has lived out in the woods knows that ‘coons are as ruthless as any investment banker and slimier than most Congressmen.
That raccoon would have no problem running off with your wallet and wife, let alone trousers, if he could.
Backed in part by the Treasury, the Fed will become a new buyer in the market for consumer loans at a time when many traditional holders of the assets, such as off-balance sheet bank units, have collapsed or been dissolved.
replace private leveraged credit creation with gov’t funding in order to jump start those shop till you drop consumers who have suddenly gone to sleep.
Its over and these very small blips will provide some cushion as the GDP shrinks along with those we used to called employed.
Obama needs to find a new set of economic thinkers quick or he will be a one term wonder.
Believe me, lots of people not in foreclosure could use the money to ease their budgets. And refinancing fees will give the banks more money in the short term.
Those that need to refi that could use some additional cash probably live in regions, i.e. calif that have experienced the largest drop in home values. Hard to refi when your existing mortgage exceeds or equals your home market value but given the direction of this bail out anything is possible.
Yesterday – the 25th – Bloomberg checks in with Marc Faber who sees “World economy inploding”:
http://www.bloomberg.com/avp/avp.htm?clipSRC=mms://media2.bloomberg.com/cache/vhU1YsklcydQ.asf
On that cherry note, happy thanksgiving to all
The demise of highly-paid élite fashion models began around 2009. The shift towards raccoon model substitution during this period has been attributed to the global decline of the labor market and the availability of clothing in general.
During the first Great Depression, rugged and durable denim work jeans were often promoted as clothing to be primarily worn by working people, but, just as in The Second Great Depression, sales of clothing declined as a result of unemployment. Thus the promotion of haute couture work clothing was often seen by the consumer as a sort of cruel hoax. This mean-spirited clothing baiting reached its zenith when clothing companies refused to employ fashion models for advertising campaigns and fashion shows. The use of fashion raccoons, was a slap in the face to most, though not all supermodels who as a group collectively boycotted wearing clothing (as much as possible) which eventually resulted in a societal shift towards utopian pragmatism and hence the liberalized lifestyle which evolved after The Bush Depression. This era has often referred to as Shambhala ll.
In September 2007 Claudia Schiffer, when talking about her failing modeling career, said: "supermodels, like we once were, don't exist any more".
It was statements like this from Ms Schiffer that seemed to pierce the communal fashion bubble which had floated like a zeppelin for many years. The tsunami of cheap and easy fashion labor ultimately opened the global fashion runway doors to opportunistic and hungry raccoons and their management.
>> Do I have to keep doing this?
Doc Holiday:
Yes you do.
@dOC hOLIDAY “)” thanks for the pirate smirk to go with my morning coffee.
Skippy