…even though we certainly need some bailing out. Brad Setser notes the obvious: Frankly the TARP is now starting to look small relative to the Fed’s balance sheet. while including the reality: The latest [H.4.1] data release should settle the question; absent enormous liquidity support from the Fed, a much broader set of financial institutions […]
Mortgages are a bitch: [I]n addition to the $300k that we already knew was still outstanding on their mortgage…they had another mortgage on this place. And so the reason they’ve been inexplicably stalling and quibbling over how much they’ll pay to do the repairs that are doubtless going to be required by the VA assessor […]
Via Dr. Black, from Google Finance, the charitable interpretation of what was done this afternoon is the old Wall Street adage above (click on image to see it well):
by Ken Houghton Prefatory Note: I wrote this several hours ago, but we had enough great posts this morning from Robert, Spencer, cactus, and rdan that I scheduled it instead of posting directly. In the interim, the House approved the second bailout bill, which I am already on record as opposing, for reasons similar to […]
by Ken Houghton Paul Krugman presents the optimistic version*: The House will probably vote on Friday on the latest version of the $700 billion bailout plan — originally the Paulson plan, then the Paulson-Dodd-Frank plan, and now, I guess, the Paulson-Dodd-Frank-Pork plan (it’s been larded up since the House rejected it on Monday). I hope […]
NYT lede, 10:57 p.m., 2 October: Gov. Sarah Palin displayed more confidence and fluency than she did in recent interviews as Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. attacked her running mate. Nothing soft about that bigotry. (Dissenting view: Brad DeLong) Who knew that Gwen Ifill could be an easier interviewer than Katie Couric or Charlie Gibson. […]
Ken Houghton I’ve been trying not to talk in these terms, but I’m sick, and Walter Jon links to an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education that puts it out in the open, so let us compare: The problems had emerged around 1870, starting in Europe. In the Austro-Hungarian Empire, formed in 1867, in […]
I posted this in comments at Lance’s place, but figure to run it up the flag here as well. Speaking as one who supported Monday’s bill and generally opposes today’s, here’s the high-level list of reasons: It wasn’t going to authorize the whole $700B, but about$250B, with renewal (or scrapping) to follow. (That Henry Paulson […]
I have a cold, or perhaps a touch of the flu, so posting will be light for the next few days. Especially if this is true, which somewhat means the election is over and I can go back to looking at data and hoping the House fails to pass the Christmas Card list bill. But […]
The headline of this piece is “Deposit Plan Will Cost Banks More.” Is there any evidence in the text that this is true? The closest I can find is: After forgoing premiums from 1996 to 2006, the agency must now turn to struggling banks and ask them to pay more, putting more pressure on the […]