Another: J.K. Galbraith takes on the evolving bank “plan” as part of a roundtable at National Journal. I like the whole thing, but the last two paragraphs are a most tasty lagniappe.

Let’s start the week off right.

The Black Hole

And a blast from the past. The more things change the more they remain the same. Geez, is that me with pictures on my feet?

I got a feeling Sen Bunning’s political career will end in 2010.

awesome link – thank you!

will you consider writing a diary on it? imo i deserves it. here’s one of my favorite bits:

How do you purchase, in good faith, mortgage-backed securities whose underlying loans, you know for a fact, are broadly tainted by fraud and misrepresentation? And especially, how do you do this when you cannot actually examine the specific loan documents, which may not be in the hands of those selling the securities? In the boom it was possible to rely on the ratings agencies, but who would do so now? Obviously the ratings process was also tainted by fraud, in that the raters found ways to certify the securities without actually examining the underlying loans. That game is finished, for sure.

There is a simple reason why the market is today valuing residential sub-prime mortgage-backed securities as trash. They are trash. There is no way that a diligent outside investor, acting as a fiduciary, can come to any other conclusion. And so there is no way that private investors will come in on deals, unless the government by some device guarantees them against loss.

And in that case, the government will not be engaging in price discovery but in price-fixing.

When are they going to learn that George Will doesn’t know jack shit about economics?

going to get ready for my CT scan in 30 minutes ……barium…. yuck

{{{{{katymine}}}}}

Thanks for the linkfest BT.

Gread vid, SoDrag.

(((katymine))) Hoping for some good news.

Nice little short. Wish they did more shorts for theatres.

alright hold down the fort…. going for my barium breakfast….. Oh berry smoothy… my favorite….

Imus asking Frank Rich this a.m. whether people have lost faith in the government.

Mr. Sunshine proffers people have not lost faith in the government, they’ve lost faith in the private institutions….

best of luck to you katymine.

Wishin’ good news for you on the CT!

Oh, and,

When are they going to learn that George Will doesn’t know jack shit about economics anything?

fixed.

The most interesting part of Bunning is his assumption that Obama will replace Ginsburg with a conservative. I think Bunning gets that right.

Gee, don’t want to promise, but will see if I can get to it this week. (I doubt that the idea will go stale anytime soon!;)

Baghwati’s talking about free trade on cspan2.

oh, missed this piece from soros when it was posted. finally someone writing about the international finance system with some suggestions… but yikes! he wants the imf to start printing money via the SDR. don’t think that’s ever been done. i’m going to need lots of convincing on that one cuz right now i’m against it. but at least soros has a good summary of what’s going down:

The fate of the United States is intimately interconnected with the rest of the world. The international financial system as it has evolved since the 1980s has been dominated by the United States and the Washington consensus. Far from providing a level playing field, it has favored the United States, to the detriment of the countries at the periphery. The United States exercises veto rights over the international financial institutions (IFIs)–the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. The periphery countries are subject to the market discipline dictated by the Washington consensus, but the United States is exempt from it. This has exposed the periphery countries to a series of financial crises and forced them to follow pro-cyclical fiscal policies, and it has allowed the United States to suck up the savings of the rest of the world and maintain an ever-increasing current account deficit. This trend might have continued indefinitely because the willingness of the United States to run a chronic current account deficit was matched by the willingness of other countries to run current account surpluses. It was brought to an end by the bursting of the housing bubble, which exposed the overindebtedness of the household sector.

The current financial crisis has revealed how unfair the system is because it originated in the United States, but it is doing more damage to the periphery than to the center. This damage to the periphery is a recent development, following the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, and its significance has not yet been fully recognized. The countries at the center have effectively guaranteed their bank deposits, but the periphery countries cannot offer similarly convincing guarantees. As a result, capital is fleeing the periphery, and it is difficult to roll over maturing loans. Exports suffer for the lack of trade finance. The IFIs are now faced with a novel task: to protect the countries of the periphery from a storm that has emanated from the center, namely the United States. The IFIs’ future depends on how well they cope with that task. Unless they can provide significant assistance, they may become largely irrelevant. Global, multilateral arrangements are in danger of breaking down, turning the financial crisis into global disorder and depression.

worth listening to? he may not be batshit crazy, but i’ve yet to be even a little bit impressed.

Never heard that he was crazy. He’s the mainstream Columbia prof on free trade.

You see anything about this film that was nominated for best doc? Laotioan refugees in “the world”. The Betrayl

thanks.

Krugman v. Will has become the highlight of my week.

e.g. Sunstein?

i know who he is, just don’t like him very much. but willing to take a listen and have my mind changed if you recommend it. was just trying to ask if you do….

Not a thing. Heard something about it on the radio a while back but since then, nothin’. One of those I’ll have to watch at home apparently. Good job on Book Saloon Sat, by the way.

The most interesting part of Bunning is his assumption that Obama will replace Ginsburg with a conservative. I think Bunning gets that right.

e.g., Sunstein?

acccckkkk! my nightmare.

no actually my nightmare is reading comments explaining all the reasons why obama is so smart to nominate sunstein.

That’s for Raven at 18. As if nobody’s figured that out.

So people you don’t like are batshit crazy?

Yes, he’s worth listening to, even if you don’t agree with him. He just mocked out his “best student” Krugman for defending the “buy America” clause in the stim.

A good guess.

The trailer looks good. Thanks re saturday, guess it’s the only topic I have anything to offer on.

no – i wrote that he’s NOT batshit crazy. which i say because he didn’t jump on the international capital market liberalization when allowing speculative money flows was all the rage in the late ’90s/early 2000s.

Agreed.

Yeah, I feel the same way most of the time. Couple more years of reading up on economics I might have something intelligent to add to the conversation.
Speaking of economics, BayWalk’s business is down so much we’ve put our monthly protests there on hold. Gonna focus on other local events and issues. Five and half years is a long time. Then *poof*.

BTW, Thaler and Sunstein will be on FDL book salon on April 5. I, for one, intend to drill down on Sunstein.

i’m sorry i can’t stand baghwati – he talks about environmental activists and has no clue. but more, i don’t hear arguments (maybe i’m just missing them because i’m too stupid?), just a bunch of assertions and highschool level taunts/in jokes. blech.

different strokes, i guess.

Christy’s upstairs with some kabuki.

Man, he’s got some cojones comin’ here. He might as well go through Khyber Pass shouting he’s a gay Christian crusader.

I don’t put much stock in that shit anyway, just a bunch of pointy heads trying to impress each other.

i think it’s just thaler, not sunstein. sunstein would be great…. although it might be my last day of commenting here…. as a banning might ensue. *g*

Off to swim in the great capitalist cesspool.

Be good to yourselves, and all other living things.

Namaste

And, you may both be right!

Ditto!

i think ecahn must have misread my comment (and/or i wasn’t clear) because i do NOT think he is batshit crazy (unlike my opinion of most free-traders).