Friday, September 19, 2008

Economy loses a wheel, but keeps rolling along, somehow

I've been silent on economics lately. There's been plenty going on, though. Even my mom is starting to get the subprime thing is pretty big. And subprime is only the beginning...

The big headlines:Merril Lynch gets bought by Bank of America at firesale price, Lehman Brothers bit the dust, and Washington Mutual is looking for a buyer. Maybe a Chinese buyer.

Speaking of China, this is the "biggest economic adjustment in 30 years". Wonder how many commies buried in the prisons of the most capitalist country on earth are saying, "Told ya so!" And then they get put on bread and water again in their prison.

Lehman Brothers failed at the delight of quite a few people. Fuld, the CEO, has been getting murdered in the press and deservedly so. An employee set up a potrait of Fuld in the lobby of the building for people to write on for $1. Some of the comments are classic. Both the NY Times ("Need a Job? $17,000 an Hour. No Success Required.") and the government of Argentina ("Argentina to Lehman: Worry about yourself") decided to rip Fuld a new one.

4 people who predicted the subprime crunch. There are plenty more than 4, but that's a start. What do these 4 people have in common? Not to be too mean about it, but all 4 have faces only a mother could love. Louisiana's Richard Baker (of the Baker Plan) is one of the 4.

An interesting report out of S&P: Pressure builds on America's AAA debt rating. They would never have the balls to do it, though. They'd be called financial-terrorists, hunted to the ends of the earth and sent to Gitmo never to be seen or heard from again. But if they did downgrade the US's bond rating...

And now, to close with: The Next Bubble: Pessimism. Published last week. Great timing. Good for a laugh.

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