Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.

Blame Basel II

Robert Waldmann gives advice to libertarians, free market fanatics and Republicans on how to blame the financial crisis on government regulation. Quite frankly, their efforts so far have been pathetic — Let’s pretend that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac lead the way in sub-prime mortgages which were orginally defined as mortgages that they wouldn’t touch. […]

11 spending programs, 2 Trillion lent based on what…best guesses so far

rdan Exclusive report Bloomberg continues the quest for information on US lending of $2 Trillion. The Federal Reserve refused a request by Bloomberg News to disclose the recipients of more than $2 trillion of emergency loans from U.S. taxpayers and the assets the central bank is accepting as collateral. Bloomberg filed suit Nov. 7 under […]

Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better

rdan Marketwatch notes some kinks in our concepts of retirement security: The vast gulf in performance underscores a little-appreciated fact of target-date funds: They may focus on the same retirement year, but investment philosophy and the percentage of stocks, bonds and cash varies widely.“All retirement funds are not equal,” said John Markese, president of the […]

Plunging U.S. car sales for September

rdan AP reports: Major automakers reported plunging U.S. sales for September — led by a 34 percent slide at Ford Motor Co — as an escalating credit crisis hit the slumping industry and raised new doubts about when the world’s largest auto market would stabilize. The 26-percent drop in industry-wide auto sales was sharper than […]

GM press release

rdan (hat tip Movie Guy) FOR RELEASE: 2008-12-12GM Announces Significant Production Cuts for Q1 ’09 Moves In Direct Response to Rapidly Deteriorating Market Conditions DETROIT – General Motors announced today a significant reduction of planned production for the first quarter of 2009 due to the ongoing and severe drop in industry sales, which were down […]

UAW responds to Senate Republicans

rdan The Detroit Free Press carries this statement: “The UAW is deeply disappointed that Senate Republicans have blocked the bipartisan legislation that was agreed to by President Bush and congressional Democrats. “In an effort to work out a compromise, the UAW was prepared to agree that any restructuring plan should ensure that the wages and […]

Suppliers in the "What next"

rdan Naked Capitalism Yves points to this NYT article. The quote is a very short part of a longer discussion. General Motors and Chrysler, for example, owe their suppliers a total of roughly $10 billion for parts that have been delivered. G.M. has held off paying them for weeks, and Chrysler is paying in small […]

Auto companies need a "What next"

rdan The AP reports that the 15 billion is not available to the auto companies: Their efforts in Congress squashed, U.S. automakers are depending upon a reluctant White House to quickly provide a multibillion lifeline to help them avoid imminent collapse. General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC, which have said they could run out of […]