Several recent events have been described as “just symbolism,” which apparently is a method of dismissing uncomfortable statements of fact, such as ‘Sarah Palin is the nominee for Vice President’…

Forty years ago, in 1968, an American major after the battle of Ben Tre in Viet Nam was quoted by Peter Arnett as having declared, “It became necessary to destroy…

Via CR, the Fed announcement this morning: The Federal Reserve Board on Tuesday announced the creation of the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility (TALF), a facility that will help market…

Ken Houghton There does indeed seem to have been a visible change in Treasury policy since the election. Until that point, it cared a little about optics. Now, it’s giving…

Ken Houghton I would prefer not to talk about AIG, especially since we already have two posts on it today: Robert brilliantly puts it into context, while DOLB goes for…

A picture is worth 1,000 words. Any claims that George W. Bush is, or even was, a “small-government” conservative will be deleted with cause. Cause:…

Steve Benen at The Washington Monthly points to a WSJ article that cautions us: THE ULTIMATE BUSH LEGACY FOR BIG BUSINESS…. Bush’s presidency may be winding down, but he’s not…

Responding to EconomistMom, he ends his breakdown of flows with: Aiming for a balanced unified deficit over the business cycle would, I think, be a good thing economically–but I really…

…natural gas, other than the odd city bus or garbage truck in random municipalities? The answer is a simple but unpleasant one. See, we in the US would label the…

…considered almost risk-free because if the borrowers default, Fannie or Freddie will pay off the loans (assuming Fannie and Freddie remain solvent). Non-conforming loans go into pools known as private-label…