by Rdan The Crossed Pond has an interesting thought on how to ask real questions of the public, using a PEW poll as an example. Wortha look.

Robert Waldmann’s Pony Plan. This plan is modeled on Buffett’s deal with Goldman Sachs. It is also based on arguments by Doug Elmendorf and Luigi Zingales. I may show how good ideas from smart people can be sliced and diced to make toxic foolishness. One reason the deal had an impact is that it was […]

A taste of market news from Huffington Post.

by cactus An Immodest Proposal – End the Privileges of the Banks Yesterday I laid out what I think is a better, cheaper, faster approach to the bank bail-out. But that assumes a bail-out is necessary. However, I think a bail-out, any bail-out, is a bad idea. Consider the role of banks. Banks essentially store […]

by Ken Houghton I don’t believe David Leonhardt is an idiot, but that’s not based on the evidence at hand: There are really only two [questions]: What steps are most likely to solve the immediate crisis? And how can the long-term cost to taxpayers be minimized? Everything else — reducing executive pay on Wall Street, […]

Robert Waldmann Major financial crisis news. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said it will get a $5 billion investment from billionaire Warren Buffett’s company, marking one of the biggest expressions of confidence in the financial system since the credit crisis intensified early this month. Look $5 billion is not just a vote of confidence.Goldman Sachs is […]

by Ken Houghton Via Glenn Greenwald, a riff that is going around (see orchidgrrl nyc for the faux-Fafblog version), has become reality—in India: Corporate India is in shock after a mob of sacked workers bludgeoned to death the chief executive who had dismissed them from a factory in a suburb of Delhi. The punchline, as […]

by spencer Dear American: I need to ask you to support an urgent secret business relationship with atransfer of funds of great magnitude.I am Ministry of the Treasury of the Republic of America. My country has hadcrisis that has caused the need for large transfer of funds of 800 billiondollars US. If you would assist […]

The Cactus Bail-Out Plan: Cheaper, Better, Faster One of the goals of Paulson’s Bad Joke seems to be to deal with “counterparty risk.” That is, if Bank A can’t find a greater fool to buy its garbage, it will have trouble paying back Bank B. It would be cheaper to simply tell Bank B to […]

bruce is wrong i think about the drumbeat to fix entitlements as well. Ornstein yesterday in the Oregonian was saying that entitlements were the big problem facing the new administration,and today “Marketplace” (public radio) went out of its way to interview young people who said social security won’t be there for them.My guess is that […]