Tag: bailout
-
“Our Hands Are Tied”
Despite rumors to the contrary, this country is still based on the rule of law – especially when the law favors a guy who has a "bonus" in excess of $6 Million dollars coming to him. By now almost everybody has certainly heard about the $165 Million of bonuses being paid to AIG execs. In…
-
Senators Seeing the Future (Clearly)
There are obviously a few things that I don’t understand about the Senate. Yesterday I reported that according to Senator Bennett the most important (he said it was most important, it was not simply the first thing on his list) part of the job of a senator is to try to see the future clearly.…
-
Define “Change”
I have come to the conclusion that I should not listen to national news – it just gets me agitated. I was driving home listening to NPR and was treated to actual soundbites from the rallying speech that President Obama gave to the Democratic caucus meeting. I had head about that, but hearing these gems…
-
Politics Goes Local
The Senate passed the bailout bill (that they had no business voting on) and with an added 315 pages of pork they might be exposing the real reason that the House did not pass it on Monday. All that extra sugar coating is likely to make the bitter pill go down easier. This reminds me…
-
Government Gray Area
When the House voted down the bailout on Monday I was very surprised by the result, but I was not particularly surprised to hear that of the Representatives facing close re-elections, only two voted in favor of the bailout. This looks like a blatant reminder that the primary concern of elected officials tends to be…
-
Something for Nothing
As I have been thinking and reading about the credit crisis my mind has been chewing on the idea that there are two very different kinds of investing. One is the kind of investing where you put in an initial outlay of resources and follow that with efforts to improve the investment (whether that is…
-
Amateur vs Professional
The financial amateurs in Congress have given us the 110 page text of their bailout plan which they will probably vote on today. It’s pretty much like the 102 page draft I wrote about on Saturday. They added the option to insure troubled assets in addition to the option to buy such assets. They also…
-
A First Glance at the Bailout Bill
I don’t claim to have read the full 102 page text of the bailout draft proposal yet, but I wanted to share my first reactions after jumping around to some of the sections that caught my interest. Section 110 – Executive compensation (p. 29) I like the idea of controls on executive compensation for participating…
-
Economics 101 (Bush Edition)
Wasn’t it so nice for our president to give the country a lesson in economics. He worked hard to reinforce the image of Washington knows best. Unfortunately his lesson left out a few details that are less than flattering for Washington. Let’s review the text of his speech. I’ll skip all the real fluff and…
-
Curbing Innovation
When talking about a $700 Billion intervention it only makes sense that taxpayers and members of Congress would want that money to go where it’s needed rather than to propping up salaries of $50 Million/year to executives of failing companies. But Wall Street, its lobbyists and trade groups are waging a feverish lobbying campaign to…