September 18, 2008

• A more serious explanation of what stuff like "deleveraging" means.
• I always wondered exactly what "deleveraging" was, but could never find an explanation in layman's terms. Thanks, Monkeyfilter! Now, if I could only get someone to explain to me why (American) football is interesting in any way...
• Oh, sweet derivative! Show me your swap spread baby!
• Seven Deadly Sins of Deregulation -- and Three Necessary Reforms
• China may buy 49% of Morgan Stanley. But I thought you guys won the Cold War -- how'd this happen?
• Now, if I could only get someone to explain to me why (American) football is interesting in any way... I was thinking just this morning how much more interesting it would be if you could put a baseball diamond in the middle of a football field, and play the two games simultaneously. Now that's a game I'd go see!
• I always thought American football should be played with a Medicine Ball instead.
• A medicine ball on a giant rubber band!!
• 'What's Next, Starbucks?' GOP Lawmakers Angry with Bailouts. [WARNING -- article features Republican nutbar Michele Baumann] "According to the group, the solution to the financial meltdown is to lower capital gains and corporate tax rates to get money off the sidelines and into the economy." OK -- I'll bite -- what money? People are sitting on money that they'd spend or invest if it weren't for pesky taxes? Yes. Because less government involvement is clearly the solution to the problem of government-safeties-off capitalism.
• Baumann, Bachmann -- same difference.
• Any game played with a ball can be improved by the addition of another ball.
• Rumored RTC to the rescue! Tah dah! *gives mad props to mah homie Volcker*
• I for one welcome our newly (re)socialized financial systems.
• > Yes. Because less government involvement is clearly the solution to the problem of government-safeties-off capitalism. I liked this cartoon.
• No-one told you high-risk investments could lose? You should sue. 'specially now that the government owns them. They've got the deepest pockets of all. Now, the state bar prohibits me from promising you a big cash payout, but between you and me, I promise you a big cash payout...
• Macaroni and cheese has supplanted credit default swaps at the fulcrum of capitalism.
• LOLFed: makin ur economy betters.
• Michael Douglas asked about Wall Street crisis. "And my name is not Gordon. He's a character I played 20 years ago."
• Stolen off of some comment on ATL: DEAR AND TRUSTWORTHY SIR: I NEED TO ASK YOU TO SUPPORT AN URGENT SECRET BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP WITH A TRANSFER OF FUNDS OF GREAT MAGNITUDE. I AM MINISTRY OF THE TREASURY OF THE REPUBLIC OF AMERICA. MY COUNTRY HAS HAD CRISIS THAT HAS CAUSED THE NEED FOR LARGE TRANSFER OF FUNDS OF 800 BILLION DOLLARS US. IF YOU WOULD ASSIST ME IN THIS TRANSFER, IT WOULD BE MOST PROFITABLE TO YOU. I AM WORKING WITH MR. PHIL GRAM, LOBBYIST FOR UBS, WHO WILL BE MY REPLACEMENT AS MINISTRY OF THE TREASURY IN JANUARY. AS A SENATOR, YOU MAY KNOW HIM AS THE LEADER OF THE AMERICAN BANKING DEREGULATION MOVEMENT IN THE 1990S. THIS TRANSACTIN IS 100% SAFE. THIS IS A MATTER OF GREAT URGENCY. WE NEED A BLANK CHECK. WE NEED THE FUNDS AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE. WE CANNOT DIRECTLY TRANSFER THESE FUNDS IN THE NAMES OF OUR CLOSE FRIENDS BECAUSE WE ARE CONSTANTLY UNDER SURVEILLANCE. MY FAMILY LAWYER ADVISED ME THAT I SHOULD LOOK FOR A RELIABLE AND TRUSTWORTHY PERSON WHO WILL ACT AS A NEXT OF KIN SO THE FUNDS CAN BE TRANSFERRED. PLEASE REPLY WITH ALL OF YOUR BANK ACCOUNT, IRA AND COLLEGE FUND ACCOUNT NUMBERS AND THOSE OF YOUR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN TO WALLSTREETBAILOUT@TREASURY.GOV SO THAT WE MAY TRANSFER YOUR COMMISSION FOR THIS TRANSACTION. AFTER I RECEIVE THAT INFORMATION, I WILL RESPOND WITH DETAILED INFORMATION ABOUT SAFEGUARDS THAT WILL BE USED TO PROTECT THE FUNDS. YOURS FAITHFULLY MINISTER OF TREASURY PAULSON
• WaMu moolah: CEO Alan Fishman may make $19 million for 17 days' work
• Incidentally, the newish Planet Money podcast has so far been pretty enlightening stuff. For those who are familiar, it's the same guys who did that really good special edition of "This American Life" about the causes and effects of the sub-prime crisis.
• After $700 Billion Bailout Collaspes in the House, GOP Mounts an Absurd Blame Game.
• Stocks crushed: Dow down 778, worst point drop ever, after the House rejects the $700 billion bank bailout plan. U.S. bailout bill defeated, TSX tumbles. Dow down 7%. S&P 500 down 8.7%. NASDAQ down 9.1% TSX down 6.94%.
• Teh yeahs!! Let the finger pointing begin.
• Just wait for tomorrow...
• The "bailout" sure did a wonderful job of keeping the makets afloat today.
• It's not just banks that might collapse, it is entire nations, like Iceland. When a bank is in trouble its nation can bail it out, but when a whole nation is in trouble who will save it?
• Denmark? But fucking hell, 120bn to 20bn is mad when it's all foreign. Iceland was being held up as a model of economic progress as recently as maybe 12 months ago.
• After The Bailout AIG Bought Themselves A $440,000 "Retreat" At A California Resort "Now that AIG has been nationalized, some folks are wondering just how their tax dollars are being spent. If you're among them, we have some bad news for you from ABC. They are reporting that papers uncovered by congressional investigators show that "less than a week after the federal government committed $85 billion to bail out AIG, executives of the giant AIG insurance company headed for a week-long retreat at a luxury resort and spa, the St. Regis Resort in Monarch Beach, California." Ouch. ABC says that the documents show that the company, yes the company, paid more than $400,000 for a week long retreat at the resort. The bill included $200,000 for rooms, $150,000 for meals and $23,000 in spa charges. " Can't imagine why nobody has faith in the bailout.
• Subprime Suspects: The right blames the credit crisis on poor minority homeowners. This is not merely offensive, but entirely wrong.
• Moment of Truth
• I'm kind of amazed that the Palin thread (which I love, btw) has 500+ comments, and this one has 30+. I know there's a time difference, but all the same, in meatspace, this is my main topic of conversation at the moment. Not healthy, I know, but a lot more important than whatever want-to-be-loved occupies the white house come january.
• Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi and National Review's Byron York argue over the headwinds facing McCain, what Phil Gramm had to do with the financial crisis, and the importance of credit default swaps.
• Sales of Marx soar as credit crunch challenges capitalism
• When the government publishes Marx's books and gives them to all citizens, then I'll believe in the end of Capitalism.
• Iceland was for sale on eBay last week. Björk not included :-(
• Can we strip it for parts? I could use some geothermal heating in the house... Some Dutch towns and the province of Noord-Holland are in trouble due to lost Icelandic and Lehman Bros. English customers who made deposits in an Icelandic online bank as well seem to be, uh, left in the cold.
• It's a stupid, pointless job but at least it keeps me away from Iceland, all right?
• Call for inquiry into Wall Street bank bonuses
• I should have know it would be Kucinich calling for the inquiry! I rest a little easier at night knowing Dennis is in the House.
• For shizzle.
• Futures curbs are on... eeek! *stocks the pantry*
• The Widening Gyre
• The Bet That Blew Up Wall Street: Credit Default Swaps And Their Central Role In The Unfolding Economic Crisis
• Prescient Parody
• Gun Sales Thriving In Uncertain Times. Remember where you are - this is Thunderdome, and death is listening, and will take the first man that screams. Economic collapse, global warming, whitey stealing the election -- take your pick.
• Jesus People Pray That False Idol Will Save God’s Economy.
• The Bush gang's parting gift: a final, frantic looting of public wealth. The US bail-out amounts to a strings-free, public-funded windfall for big business. Welcome to no-risk capitalism
• See, this is what I don't understand. That the people got hoodwinked, sure. I get that. What I don't get is why the market kept plummeting on the news that the bailout would not be passed, and then would. If the banks were given all this no-strings cash -- and presumably they were in on the deal -- why would that translate into bad news for the market? The first crash, when the bailout wasn't passed -- OK. But why the crash when it was? All of which just adds to my suspicion that no-one really knows how the fuck the market really works, but can only come up with reasonable guesses after the fact.
• Just as the Invasion of Iraq had nothing at all to do with the 9/11 attacks, the bailout gift to the financial industry has fuck-all to do with the market meltdown. Both were just convenient excuses to sell the idea to the public.
• > But why the crash when it was? I guess the recipients of public sureties are not necessarily the ones who will suffer from lack of access to credit. i.e. Even if the banks can now lend public funds, it doesn't mean that they'll lend to the people who need the money.
• So who will Obama name as the new Treasury Secretary?? Rumors are swirling that Obama will announce his choice fairly soon - as to address the current economic mess. I'm rooting for Paul Volcker, since I used to work with the guy (hence, I'm biased, but rightfully so I believe).
• He's 81 years old, though. I think he's earned his retirement.
• Sure, but he has the knowledge, and he's not the type to sit around and do nothing in his retirement.
• Victims of the crash a look at seven iconic brands that died this year.
• World's largest Lamborghini dealer closes.
• Federal Reserve Hires Bear Stearns Fox to Fix the Hen House
• While everyone's attention was on the bailout debate, the Trasury Department gave banks a (probably illegal) $140B gift.
• Rocket, what's your problem? It was only $140B! Not like it was a TRILLION or anything.
• Republican orthodoxy
• Naomi Klein on the Bailout Profiteers and the Multi-Trillion-Dollar Crime Scene
• Shamelessly taken from blog.mint.com
• The Lame-Duck Economy
• Mother Renault now has her first investment with a value of $0.00. Fundamentals in place. If there was a recession, it would have happened right now. No need to panic. Market correction. Zero. Thanks for playing.
• TSX point drop biggest ever. This would be news if it wasn't happening every goddamn day.
• Bush Administration Weakened Lending Rules Before Crash
• Paul Krugman: What to Do
• Joeseph Stiglitz: Capitalist Fools
• smt, I love that chart. Still wish I weren't working in the banking industry. I guess I'm lucky that I'm still employed. It's a cut-throat, ugly world in there...
• Executive Pay Limits May Prove Toothless: Loophole in Bailout Provision Leaves Enforcement in Doubt
• Maddow: Krugman on Why the Stimulus is Important
• In Cut and Paste Job, Treasury Admits It Still Doesn't Know What Banks Are Doing With Bailout Money
• Bailout Recipients Hosted Call To Defeat Key Labor Bill
• Condoms and Art are Stimulating (to the Economy); Corporate Tax Cuts Not So Much
• On the Edge: Washington has lost any sense of the reality that we may well be falling into an economic abyss, and that if we do, it will be very hard to get out again.
• For Banks, an $80 Billion Gift: Treasury Overpaid Troubled Banks Under TARP
• What the centrists have wrought
• The New Deal roots in the stimulus debate
• Krugman today: President Obama’s pursuit of bipartisanship, and the cuts imposed by “centrists,” have led to an inadequate, insufficiently effective stimulus bill
• End The Honeymoon: Why the left is to blame for the lackluster stimulus and bank bailout Obama and liberals: a counter-productive relationship
• Insurance giant AIG to pay $165 million in bonuses even though it received $170 billion dollar bailout
• It's time to hang the bastards. Contracts my ass. You assholes ran the company into financial hole, and now you get a bonus. How about giving them their bonus on paper at the same time you charge a penalty that's 35% ABOVE AND BEYOND what their bonus is? Make the bastards pay for their unethical behavior/stupidity. Any worker in a *real* business would have had their asses fired and/or been taken to court.
• Just Gets Worse: "The first reports said either $100 million or $170 million in bonus payments. But there was a lot of unclarity about what kind of bonuses they were and how many were going to the folks at AIG 'financial products' division, where they wrote those credit default swaps that blew up the company and will likely cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars. But the Journal says the number is actually $450 million to execs at the financial products division and a $1.2 billion spread across the whole company."
• Perp Walks Instead of Bonuses Robert Scheer on AIG Bonuses, the “Backdoor Bailout” and Why Obama Should Fire Geithner, Summers
• 13 firms receiving federal bailout owe back taxes
• Take. The. Money. Back.
• Krugman: Despair over financial policy More on the bank plan
• Rachel Maddow Show: Deregulation for Dummies
• Why Are We Still At This?
• The U.S. government plan to rid banks of toxic assets will rob American taxpayers by exposing them to too much risk and is unlikely to work as long as the economy remains weak, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz said on Tuesday.
• What to Watch For In the Administration's Financial Sector Reforms
• Obama’s Ersatz Capitalism
• Larry Summers, Tim Geithner and Wall Street's ownership of government
• We modernised ourselves into this ice age
• The Geithner-Summers Plan is Even Worse Than We Thought
• Doggone it, homunculus, you post some good links, but you sure know how to ruin a morning! Thanks for keeping us posted.
• Top Senate Democrat: bankers "own" the U.S. Congress
• you sure know how to ruin a morning! Here's something to cheer you up.
• Wall Street's Bailout Hustle: Goldman Sachs and other big banks aren't just pocketing the trillions we gave them to rescue the economy - they're re-creating the conditions for another crash
• Most western democracies are defacto oligarchies but it seems of late the ruling elite doesn't even bother pretending anymore that they are part of society.
• Most western democracies are defacto oligarchies but it seems of late the ruling elite doesn't even bother pretending anymore that they are part of society.
• OOPS double hit my bad.
• That's OK, Bluenoser, I was headed over to say exactly that anyway. A Capitalist Democracy, Incorporated
• Who is this Oleg Archie and where is his webcomic?
• "Who is this Oleg Archie" He is Anne Archie's brother.
• The Third Depression
• ...the recession brought on by the financial crisis arguably ended last summer. ... Whoever is arguing that is full of shit. We're now really starting to feel the impact. And it damn well hurts.
• Inside Job (How they stole your future)
• Dare to dream that one day soon they might all be called to account for it too. *snorts* Yeah, riiiiiight.
• I watched this movie a while ago, and came away very angry and almost a proponent for capital punishment. But mainly, sorry for the US and the "free market" policy it insists on over and above any sort of social altruism. It has such a strong grip, even Obama, with all his lofty ideals, has little chance of pulling it down.
• Why are the big banks getting off scot-free?
• Who Won the Great Recession?