Links 10/27/08

Dog risks life for kittens BBC

Sarah Palin’s home state Anchorage Daily News endorses Barack Obama Telegraph. And Palin’s lack of preparedness was one of several reasons for preferring Obama.

Government computers used to find information on Joe the Plumber Columbus Dispatch

A Record in Making Guinness Annoyed at You New York Times

Australian Central Bank Intervenes as Currency Extends Declines Bloomberg. That is almost always a losing game unless the central bank has huge firepower. The flip side is the currency has fallen so far that it might actually works at these levels.

Lawsuit claims Barclays is guilty of fraud Independent

Restoring Functioning Markets in a Broken World Roger Ehrenberg

Ben Stein Watch: October 26, 2008 Felix Salmon

NY Times Lending Conspiracy Madness Michael Shedlock

The Federal Reserve’s balance sheet Jim Hamilton, Econbrowser

Antidote du jour:

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11 comments

  1. daz

    Note that the RBA is providing liquidity – they’re not looking to defend a certain level. This probably IS a good thing.

    –Q

  2. Anonymous

    Stupid unrelated questions.
    I have read the posts here for quite awhile and think you guys are pretty sharp.
    I’m trying to get a grip on interest rates. I have a floating loan on a commercial building I built for my own use. I’m paying .75% below prime or 4.25% today. I think they will lower rates this week again because of the dollar strength as it keeps inflation in check. I also think when the dollar starts to drop inflation will kick in and rates will go up. This is my first office building and I don’t know what a normal rate is. I don’t want to wait too long to lock in because I remember 1979-1980 well. When rates start to go up I’m afraid they will shoot up fast.
    My stupid question is: What is a normal rate, maybe 10 year fixed, 20 year amortization, that I should be looking for? What should I look at that will warn me of coming hikes? Is a bank better or worse then private investors? This is the first time that I have owned a commercial building and already, I don’t like it.

  3. Dave Raithel

    Yves Smith: I don’t know if I should be amused for the irony, or if I should just be confused, but I guess I’m a little of both. A few weeks back you admonished “snarky” posts and posters. Yet you link (and so by implication, refer us to)Shedlock/Mish.

    The Hamilton link is a very good read, but it still leaves me questions about “printing money” that I hope he’ll answer.

    Interesting that you haven’t (yet?) linked to the Laffer piece in the WSJ.

  4. Anonymous

    Can we label the tiger “Deleveraging” and the log “The World Economy”?

    Bad, tiger, bad!

  5. Yves Smith

    Dave,

    There is a big difference between being snarky regarding a public figure or what someone has written in a public venue, versus being snarky to someone in a comment thread. I have no problem with someone saying Hank Paulson is either corrupt or a moron at a dinner party, but would have a huge problem with someone saying to a fellow guest’s face that they were corrupt or stupid!

  6. doc holiday

    Another example of what one frustrated engineer can do with misallocated resources. This is a visual metaphor for the massive boondoggle-like financial structures that provide society with tsunamis of unregulated derivatives and mindless pork barrel bridges (to nowhere in particular) which link together one set of retarded rubes to their twin swine clones that all reach towards the open sky with waving silk purses, each hoping to catch falling gold coloured coins from The Large Hadron Collider.

    Amen and

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