Comments on: Links and Quick Takes 11/28/08

By: lineup32

lineup32 — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 02:15:00 +0000

LBJ used the cover of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and Bush the horror of 9/11 to expand their powers and justify greater powers.
Presidents tend to use a crisis to expand their powers and reaches, I expect Obama will be no different.

By: lineup32

lineup32 — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 02:06:00 +0000

Tortoise said...
This being a slow day, I would like to submit a link of a goodie though slighly oldie article:

Thanks for the link. Another bit from the link:

"Washington policymakers and politicians need to stand back and let this adjustment play out. Yet the US body politic is panicking in response - underwriting massive liquidity injections that produce another asset bubble and proposing fiscal pump-priming that would depress domestic saving even further. Such actions can only compound the problems that got America into this mess in the first place."

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 01:15:00 +0000

Steven Roach was saying the same thing in 2004. He was called many things for his draconian, but correct, views.

Roach was the original Dr. Doom.

By: dearieme

dearieme — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 23:22:00 +0000

Martin Wolf in cracking form:-
“Keynes said, of course, that “practical men … are usually the slaves of some defunct economist”. So, of course, are economists, even if the defunct economists are sometimes still alive.”

By: mundanomaniac

mundanomaniac — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 22:03:00 +0000

mundomaniac

in my words
as this giving a house to any simpl was simply a bastard New Deal, this giving a gift without notion, poisoned the apel.

Hölderlin said:
"Wo aber Gefahr ist, wächst das Rettende auch" (Patmos)

But where is danger
there also grows remedy
(sorry my englisch)

Yves
I thank you and all of
your commentators
for this blog

thanks to Lehman,
I met you

"naked capitalism" is capitalism in the cradle and me and my donkey*, we are feeling for a humble gesture

have a nice thanksgiving

*

By: Tortoise

Tortoise — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 20:16:00 +0000

This being a slow day, I would like to submit a link of a goodie though slighly oldie article:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/59bd87b6-bd8c-11dc-b7e6-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1

Highlights: America’s massive current account deficit absorbs about 75 per cent of the world’s surplus saving… A sharp decline in asset prices is necessary to rebalance the US economy. It is the only realistic hope to shift the mix of saving away from asset appreciation back to that supported by income generation. That could entail as much as a 20-30 per cent decline in overall US housing prices and a related deflating of the bubble of cheap and easy credit… As consumption slows and household saving rises in the US, the need to import surplus saving from abroad will diminish… The global economy will emerge bruised, but much better balanced.

That’s Stephen Roach in January 2008. Could it be that we are not experiencing a crisis but rather the painful side effects of the cure that was needed all along? Food for thought.

By: John Emerson

John Emerson — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 17:00:00 +0000

The cat picture reminds nme of the time a cat snagged a mourning dove right beneath my bird feeder. He seemed surprised when he caught it and didn’t seem to know what to do with it.

By: russell1200

russell1200 — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 16:42:00 +0000

The comment posted under the “C Bailout” story was interesting. The WaMu failure as conspiracy theory make for an interesting story.

I am not sure I buy it, but it does feel a little like the second coming of Fisk and Gould.

By: River

River — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 12:05:00 +0000

RE: GM Asks Government To Block Public Tracking Of Corporate Jets…

‘NEW YORK (Reuters) – General Motors Corp (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), whose chief executive was blasted last week by U.S. lawmakers for flying on a private jet to ask for public funds, has asked the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration to prevent public tracking of a jet it leases.’

These GM folks are truely clueless. With decisions like this request they have demonstrated that they spend Millions of $s yearly on PR, yet understand nothing about PR. Doh! So CEO was imbarrased by congressional testimony…then made a hasty decision to call the FAA??? Some CEOs should have a nanny in attendence.

By: River

River — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 11:48:00 +0000

Yves, Schiller expresses his doubts about the effectivness of the bail outs in the three part You Tube link below. Schiller seems to be one of the few that realize that the ‘cultural mood’ of the people has changed and he makes several comparisons of the current crisis to the great depression. Schiller points out that his wife is a psychologist, as is mine. Perhaps that is why we both have similar takes on fiscal/monetary stimulus vs ‘public mood’.

It appears to me that those in charge of the Fed/Treasury and the administration in general believe that monetary and fiscal response will overcome a shift in ‘cultural mood’. I doubt very much if those in charge are correct. Ego is at work, imo. Those in power are loath to admit that situations arise that they cannot correct. Of course, such an admission would be admitting defeat.

Shiller: Crisis May Run For Years and Years

http://econvideo.blogspot.com/2008/11/shiller-crisis-may-run-for-years-and.html