Monday, March 23, 2009 at 02:48AM Friendly 60 Minutes Journalist Asks Some Tough Questions But Nicely
Will Presdient's Gallows Humor Leads to Zeppelin's Gallow Pole or Obama's Gallows Poll
Zeppelin's Gallows Pole or Obama's Gallows Poll?
Personally it feels to me more like the Battle Evermore and more each day
Sunday, March 22, 2009 at 01:37PM Drudge All-Red Headline: Senator Gregg Believes Obama Budget Will Bankrupt the U.S.
More Visibility on Commerce Secretary Withdrawal Over Policy Differences from Interview on CNN
The aisle-crossing, tax-paying, conservative political chameleon Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH) withdrew with grace and dignity from the Oprompter's bi-partisan nomination for Secretary of Commerce based on "irreconcilable policy differences." The withdrawal generated a bit of a "yo wassup?" reaction that was pretty much taken at face value. But his appearance on CNN's "State of the Union" sheds a new light at how big the policy chasm actually is? It would appear that the stimulus chasm is Kierkegaardian in nature and scope that requires a leap of faith that Gregg, undoubtedly a god-fearing consevative, is unwilling to make: Obama's bailout plan is a just a couple trillion dollar bet he can live with but the O-budget will bankrupt the U.S. Kind of puts things in perpective.
SEN. GREGG: OBAMA BUDGET WILL BANKRUPT USA
Senator Gregg on CNN's State of the Union (March 22)
Judd Gregg (R-NH)
SunMar22, 9:47amET
WASHINGTON – The top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee says the Obama administration is on the right course to save the nation's financial system.
But Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire also says President Barack Obama's massive budget proposal will bankrupt the country.
Gregg says he has no regrets in withdrawing his nomination to become commerce secretary. He pulled out after deciding he could not fully back the administration's economic policies.
The senator said Obama's spending plan in the midst of a prolonged recession would leave the next generation with a country too expensive to live in.
Gregg appeared Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union."
Here is Senator Gregg's rather gracious but lengthy withdrawal (and slightly rambly) statement:
Your move Mr. President....
Sunday, March 22, 2009 at 01:11AM Classic Scene From Jaws Says It All About a Diffent Kind of Bailout
Also: Give a Dog a Fish....
Financial Lesson #1 to Be Learned From Speilberg Terror Flick
I don't know about you, but it took me twenty years to go back into the ocean after seeing the original version of "Jaws." When he first encounters the 25 foot, 6,000 lb aquatic anti-Christ Roy Scheider, may he rest in peace, eerily foreshadows our deer-in-the-headlights Secretary of the Treasury . What we need is to find a good Quint (Robert Shaw may he also rest in peace) out there who survived the sinking of the SS Indianapolis where 1,100 men went into the water and only 316 survived the onslaught of the sharks.
"We're gonna need a bigger boat!"
Rover Overboard: Give a Dog to Fish, Feed Him for a Day. Teach a Dog to Fish, Feed Him for a Lifetime.
Now this is the kind of leadership we need in Washington. I wonder if Rover the is available?
You want some symbolism? Okay, so the helicopter is the dollar, the guy on the ladder is Geitner and the market is ....
Saturday, March 21, 2009 at 11:55PM How Do You Unscramble an Omelette with 62 Trillion Eggs (Revisited)?
Hamilton on CDS: "If you ask me this is all a $62 trillion pile of crap. What were these guys smoking?"
Hamilton taking a few puffs of the relative healthy good old fashion tobacco
But first a Cinemoment Flashback: The Famous Annie Hall/Marshall McLuhen Scene
"You Don't Have Any Idea What You Are Talking About!"
This looks likes like one big piece of crap to me!
Typical CDS Structure
Toxic? Perhaps. Impenetrable? Without a Doubt. Why not pay bonuses with the toxic assets? We'll find out what their really worth in a nanosecond.
Could we have a little perspective please maestro:
Okay so this is what a $1 biliion variation of a credit default swap looks like. The "un-netted" notional exposure means there would be, arguendo, 60,000 more transactions of $1 billion if they were all a billion. One report said Lehman had 1 million CDS and other derivative contracts that need to be unwound. Ever get that message on your computer: "Warning you have run out of memory, please delete unnecessary files"
Friday, March 20, 2009 at 02:18AM March 19th, 2009: The Death of Greed Legislated in Congress with 90% Bonus Excise Tax
Milton Friedman Spinning Apoplectically In Grave (AIG)
"Many forms of government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time."
Winston Churchill, House of Commons, 11 Nov. 194
Sir Winston Churchill- Democracy and Capitalism are both bad but......
Winston Churchill's quote about democracy being the worst form of government except all others will now be rebottled as to the future of capitalism. You find find little personal revelation about the Stickman other than his birthday coincides with the death of greed that occurred today in Washington today (March 19th) as the House passed a confiscatory tax on bonuses over $100,000 for recipients of TARP monies of $5 billion or more. I wonder who they had in mind???
By CARL HULSE and DAVID M. HERSZENHORN
WASHINGTON — The House overwhelmingly approved on Thursday a near total tax on bonuses paid this year to employees of the American International Group and other firms that have accepted large amounts of federal bailout funds, rattling Wall Street as lawmakers rushed to respond to populist anger.
Despite questions about the legality of the retroactive 90 percent levy, Democrats and some Republicans said the tax on bonuses for traders, executives and bankers earning more than $250,000 was the quickest way to show angry Americans that Congress intended to recoup the extra dollars. Even backers of the measure noted it was an extraordinary step.
Here is a little clip from the partially discredited and perhaps soon-to-be-rehabilitated Milton Friedman appearing with a much younger Phil Donahue:
Miltie and Phil
For those of you who ever studied political science and read the Federalist Papers, you might want to brush up on James Madison's Federalist 10 regarding "factions" and Alexis de Tocqueville's Chapter 15 on "Tyranny of the Majority" from Democracy in America (1831). I think you will start to see alot of references to these two seminal historical essays on the punditryscape over the coming weeks. You heard it here first.
Love,
Sticky (on my birthday)
Thursday, March 19, 2009 at 07:32PM
Tar Heels a Much Better Bet Than Those Tarp Heels?
POTUS B-Ball Lesson for Bail-out: Dribble Before You Shoot
Your in Good Hands with AIG: ( Bama's Got Good Hands Too)
Don't get me wrong-- I really love this guy Obama and think we have the best possible man for the most impossible job at the worst moment in the history of the universe. But we're starting to throw around some really big numbers here if you haven't noticed. We're kinda betting the ranch throwing stuff up against the Wall (Street) that really doesn't like surprises. OK, let's just buy $300 billion of long-bonds and drive the rate down by 40 basis points-- then let's just see what happens! So what if the dollar craters? Where are all these investors gonna go? Pesos? I don't think so. (I happen to personally like this idea of buying long bonds but then I again I am also a proponent of negative nominal interest rates: treasury bills at should be -2% would suit me just fine).
But here's the problem. Obama is out being Obama which he is really good at. Town Halls, Leno, Tar Heels boosterism, making publishing deals today for his post-presidency treasure trove. Doesn't feel right. Where's the angst? He should be working 15 hours a day like Geitner who can't seem to hire anyone to help him so he tries to do it all himself. Stickman to Geitner: Get some help buddy. Call me I'm available and for you I am free not even a dollar a year.
And maybe the Prez could have spent a little less face time on the media circuit and actually stayed at home and become the first person in Washington to have actually read the stimulus bill in part let alone its entirety. Sure $165 million in bonuses to AIG Financial Products retainees (wow, that sounds too much like detainees) is enough to make the water in a teapot boil without turning on the stove. But if we can't control a little $180 billion investment to bolster AIG how the hell are we going to deploy $3.6 trillion without a scandal a day? Splain it to me. Can't wait to see what the boys at DOT do with the TARP money, the TALP money , the SCALP moneyad naseum. Would love to see the advisory fees paid to Morgan Stanley and Wellington Captial and the like to manage these transactions let alone the legal bills to read the 4,000 pages of documents for each security.
If you ask me right now the country might be better off if the President rolled the dice and bet $3.6 trillion on the Tar Heels rather than betting $3.6 trillion on the Tarp Heels.