Radley Balko has a few comments about some of the stuff that's made it into the bailout bill to sweeten the deal and get enough votes. Check it out. I think the mental health provisions were part of the original bill that the Senate hijacked for the bailout. (For some procedural reason, it's easier to amend an existing bill than to introduce a new one.) … [Read more...] about Ponies For Everyone!
Economics
I’ve Been Thinking About This Economic Crisis…
[Update: I've been reading a lot more about the crisis, and a lot of what I say here is wrong. For example, I assumed that financial experts knew how to evaluate the structured deals and investment vehicles, and therefore that the uncertainty arises because of the difficulty in valuing real estate. Apparently, however (and I could be wrong again), the uncertainty problem is not … [Read more...] about I’ve Been Thinking About This Economic Crisis…
You’re All Going Down!
So, the bailout bill has failed. Cool. Scary too, but cool. I hope it stays this way. As word got out that the bill was failing, the market fell. It fell a lot. It fell more than ever before, even more than it fell on 9/11. Of course, when I say "the market," I'm talking about the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which isn't really the market, it's just an indicator of the market. … [Read more...] about You’re All Going Down!
Hang On Tight
The bailout plan has apparently hit a snag after a meeting of congressional leaders at the White House broke down into a "contentious shouting match." Add to that the failure of WaMu last night and I think the folks on Wall Street are going to go apeshit react strongly. Then again, if I could really predict what happens on Wall Street, I'd be an advisor to a large … [Read more...] about Hang On Tight
Why Not Bail Out the GOOD Banks?
This is probably wrong in so many ways, but why are we helping the bad financial institutions? Wouldn't it make more sense to help out the good ones? I think, first of all, that the plan is not to simply give away the $700 billion. Instead, the U.S. Treasury will take over bad mortgage investments. I think the way this works is that if the government buys $100 million in bad … [Read more...] about Why Not Bail Out the GOOD Banks?