rdan Home prices since 1890 (via Tim Schilling MV=PQ via Carpe Diem via Mises) Now Spencer and CR would also love this: The same chart presented dynamically as a roller coaster video. Update: Some readers wanted the last two years included. Okay…here it is. But now you have to provide the roller coaster ride video […]

…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 […]

Near the end of each month the Treasury Dept releases Trust Fund Reports giving balances to the penny for the previous month. By comparing these balances to the projection in the Annual Reports we can get a rough idea of how Social Security is doing year to date. This year’s Report was released on October […]

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 […]

by Spencer So much for Sarah Palin’s claim that Republican tax cuts create jobs. In the post WW II era every Democratic President has left office with a lower unemployment rate than they inherited from their predecessor while only one Republican president left office with a lower unemployment rate than they inherited. That was Ronald […]

Rdan The National Children’s Study will examine the effects of environmental influences on the health and development of 100,000 children across the United States, following them from before birth until age 21. The goal of the Study is to improve the health and well-being of children. Watch this video and learn more about the Study. […]

by cactus A Few Questions About Taxes In the past few years, if you pointed out that the Bush tax cuts went primarily to those with high incomes, the response from the right was essentially this: a. those with highest income got the biggest tax cut because they pay the most in taxesb. the high […]