The following essay is a guest post from Island Dweller because it seems the Czar doesn’t post anything of his own lately. But this great news, because we remind our readers that you are welcome to submit your thoughts either … Continue reading →
Island Dweller—he of the block quote—swung by the Castle lobby bar last night with a piece of paper in his hand. The paper was a printout from a website. Most magnificent Czar, etc & etc . . . A forum … Continue reading →
Elizabeth Warren was originally slatedto head the CFPB. This is the best picture‘Puter could find of her. It’s stunning how closely Sen. Warren resembles her ancestorChief Wahoo, noble mascot of MLB’s totallynot racist Cleveland Indians. Unless you’re in the financial … Continue reading →
Mind you, ‘Puter’s impression of U.S. Attorney Preet S. Bharara’s action against Bank of America is based entirely on Mr. Bharara’s press release, which you may review here. Here’s a very brief synopsis of the government’s claims. For a more … Continue reading →
Nothing brings out the best in New Yorkers like school district budget season, and this year’s no exception. Just to keep the bare-knuckled brawls from becoming mundane, this year many Upstate districts are structurally bankrupt as a result of the … Continue reading →
The First Law of Thermodynamics states roughly that energy cannot be created or destroyed, but it can be changed in form. This is, as proponents of Anthropogenic Global Warming are wont to say, settled science. And, as these self-same acolytes … Continue reading →
As regular readers know, ‘Puter is a high-functioning simpleton, but one with Cassandra-like powers of prognostication. Also, like Cassandra, ‘Puter is cruelly fated to never be believed. Let’s review a few of ‘Puter’s most recent economic prognostications: 1. The failure … Continue reading →
Imagine something this dumb. Imagine you get a guy who’s seriously in the red—he has about $50 in his pocket, but he owes thousands. He knows he never will pay off what he owes. And he finds another guy pretty … Continue reading →
Checked your homeowner’s insurance lately? A lot of people pay off their mortgage with property taxes and homeowner’s insurance rolled into a lump sum (“escrow”). Each month, they either write a check or use an auto-deduction to pay that off. … Continue reading →
‘Puter was reading this post regarding the failed HAMP program over at Megan McArdle’s blog at The Atlantic this morning, and it set him to thinking. Flawed notions of consumer credit are what dragged us in to our current straits, … Continue reading →
Gormogon operative FR writes in: I just got a nice little email from Senator Warner letting me know he was looking out for little ole me by supporting the Financial reform bill. I was so comforted to know I had … Continue reading →
With faltering support for President Obama’s government healthcare takeover, a crisis may just be what the doctor ordered. With the administration’s propaganda department (ABC, NBC, MSNBC, CNN, and CBS) already running story after story of the upcoming H1N1 – otherwise … Continue reading →
Can someone explain to the Czar who the foxtrot puts a charlie foxtrot like Barney Frank in charge of the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee? Is it the deep commercial banking experience he lacks? Or the investment management … Continue reading →
The solution to the Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae mess is to move all the bad loans off book. Or so thinks the Obama Administration. You see, the problem isn’t that political motivations caused quasi-governmental entities to make (purchase) and … Continue reading →
Optimistic signs of recovery abound. No doubt you have heard that some recipients of TARP funds have already begun paying the money back. This is very good news, because it shows the American business can heal itself, and the government … Continue reading →
Maybe, just maybe, there’s a glimmer of hope for the rule of law. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals will hear a creditor challenge to their treatment in bankruptcy. The creditors’ (Indiana state pension funds) argument is that the bankruptcy … Continue reading →
Q. What do the following events have in common: (1) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac meltdowns; (2) banking crisis; (3) TARP and TALF; (4) Chrysler fiasco; (5) GM fiasco; (6) housing bubble’s bust; and (7) the soon to occur FHA … Continue reading →
The United States Senate, of all august legislative bodies, recognized the importance of the rule of law to the business community. Today, in a shocking display of level-headedness, the Senate voted down President Obama’s pet project to permit bankruptcy courts … Continue reading →
This lends additional support to the “‘Puter is always right” meme. Crazy conspiracy theorists peddling conjecture and speculation as fact is as easy to predict as night following day. Of course, the ease of the prediction should cast no doubt … Continue reading →
Respected economists agree with ‘Puter’s position on the bank bailout, as outlined here. That is, the market pricing offered by distressed asset purchasers is correct. It’s the selling banks that have their collective head in the sand. Oh, and by … Continue reading →
‘Puter’s not particularly smart. Or handsome, either, for that matter. But it seems to ‘Puter, sitting smack in the middle of this financial crisis, that America hasn’t given capitalism a chance to work yet. Capitalism assumes that there will be … Continue reading →
There is no such thing as the United States economy, if by that one means (as the Obama Administration apparently does) an economy that belongs to the United States. The United States economy is a collection of single companies, investment … Continue reading →
First, President Obama’s budget plan to deficit spend our way to prosperity ran into a bit of a problem today. The Brits couldn’t find buyers for its entire bond offering this morning. Then this afternoon, a Fed bond auction attracted … Continue reading →
Since Secretary Geithner’s doing such a bang-up job bringing us out of our current crisis, this seems like a good idea. That’s right, folks. The White House and Secretary Geithner want Congress to give them even more power to distort … Continue reading →
We deserve what we’re getting now, and we deserve what’s coming down the pike. First now, next later, then an unsatisfactory conclusion. Now. We’ve reaped the whirlwind of our past acts in the current financial collapse. People who had no … Continue reading →
The Gormogons would like to thank our esteemed colleague Ennuipundit for passing along this amazing story, in which President Obama, amidst a potentially once-a-century economic crisis, with Russia rearming, China staging provocations in the South China Sea, Iran reading nuclear-tipped … Continue reading →
The ŒV and Czar have spent many a year in the company of high-powered MBAs, and commend to you this brutal takedown by one of their own. I might make a few comments in defense of what I always called … Continue reading →
Says the Telegraph—jaw-droppingly. Read every paragraph: Sources close to the White House say Mr Obama and his staff have been “overwhelmed” by the economic meltdown and have voiced concerns that the new president is not getting enough rest. British officials, … Continue reading →
…echoes the Volgi. Flattering for the Volgi, bad for America. “…The markets’ recent precipitous decline is a reaction not just to the absence of any plausible bank rescue plan, but also to the suspicion that Obama sees the continuing financial … Continue reading →
So everyone (on the right, at least) keeps noting that Obama’s “stimulus” package is nothing like an actual stimulus package and won’t help the economy. It’s just the an enormous spending and social-engineering package, the agglomeration of Democrat wish-lists of … Continue reading →
I kind of like him! “Interference of the State, the belief in the omnipotence of the State: that is a reaction to market failures,” Mr Putin said in his keynote address at the opening of the four-day meeting. “There is … Continue reading →
Confucius, Œc. Vol.Don’t ask impertinent questions like that jackass Adept Lu. 3.14.242.153
Continue reading →Two tidbits on unions and the economy. First, unionization prolongs bad times (e.g., the Great Depression) by forcing business to retain less efficient, though more senior, employees and pay unequally talented people equally, resulting in layoffs. Second, union demanded and … Continue reading →
But the military’s getting screwed. Thanks, Congress. Thanks, banks. Thanks, Fannie & Freddie. Thanks, real-estate speculators. You’ve made us all less safe. Thanks. Thanks so much. UPDATE: On the other hand, at least the same thing is happening in Russia. … Continue reading →
All the usual Sailer disclaimers apply to the site, but this is a hell of a funny post. Confucius, Œc. Vol.Don’t ask impertinent questions like that jackass Adept Lu. 3.14.242.153
Continue reading →Asks Jennifer Rubin, wondering if prominent Democrats’ indiscreet statements are less accidental than they have been taken to be. Your Volgi has no opinion. This is the ‘Puter’s turf. Especially because it involves his beloved Chuck Schumer. It does remind … Continue reading →
And there was much rejoicing. Mark Steyn has returned to his beat…the world. This week, it’s Biden-Palin, as you can guess, and he’s in love with a girl called Sarah. That’s where Sarah Palin scored in the vice-presidential showdown. A … Continue reading →
So, Republicans, you were all happy-clappy that John McCain seemed to have lost the self-destructive instinct that caused him to, say, rip into a major segment of the GOP base in the 2000 South Carolina primary. Guess what? His love … Continue reading →
In a great example of how not to handle a financial crisis, Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) decided to incite more market instability. In comments to the press last evening, Sen. Reid stunningly stated We don’t have a lot of leeway … Continue reading →
V.D. Hanson, eschewing the fustian that sometimes envelops his interesting ideas, here suggests that the collapse of the American financial system could presage some genuinely terrible events on the world stage. You’ll recognize his concern about America’s emboldened enemies from … Continue reading →
I’m not a big fan of political spin by any party. This financial crisis that we’re facing is not Obama’s fault. And while maybe he could have been more vocal in his prior warnings and efforts to rein it in, … Continue reading →
…of the regulatory mess that created the mortgage meltdown. It gets a little partisan and histrionic (though not wrong, I’d wager) at the end, but it’s worth watching all the way through. UPDATE: And for a more precise explanation of … Continue reading →
The roots of the crisis in four easy steps. Confucius, Œc. Vol.Don’t ask impertinent questions like that jackass Adept Lu. 3.14.242.153
Continue reading →Ok, as y’all know, your Œcumenical Volgi is one Skeptical Volgi when it comes to government bailouts of enterprises. Ghettoputer is not happy with the fact that foreign-based banks operating in the U.S. might be bailed out of their junk-mortgage … Continue reading →
‘Puter’s been doing some drinking and some thinking this past weekend, hence the dearth of posts. Both the drinking and the thinking are the direct results of the most recent financial news shaking out on Wall Street. Lehman Bros. is … Continue reading →
