Sunday, September 21, 2008

Get your hands off'n that wheelbarrow

A Black Wednesday on Credit Markets;
'Heaven Help Us All' 

How close were we to going nuclear?  Here's the lead paragraphs of WSJ's chilling account

When government officials surveyed the flailing American financial system this week, they didn't see only a collapsed investment bank or the surrender of a giant insurance firm. They saw the circulatory system of the U.S. economy -- credit markets -- starting to fail.

Huddled in his office Wednesday with top advisers, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson watched his financial-data terminal with alarm as one market after another began go haywire. Investors were fleeing money-market mutual funds, long considered ultra-safe. The market froze for the short-term loans that banks rely on to fund their day-to-day business. Without such mechanisms, the economy would grind to a halt. Companies would be unable to fund their daily operations. Soon, consumers would panic.

How Did Our Leaders Respond to This Very Real Crisis?
“No one knows what to do,” Reid said. “We are in new territory. This is a different game. When asked whether the Democrats “deserve some responsibility” regarding the economic crisis, Pelosi responded: “No.” (NO?)
Pass it, and pass it now.

This a monster bill that actually creates a gummint inside the gummint.  A gummint not subject to review.  I think OldSpook sums it up nicely, however.
I don't like the government bailout, but the consequences of fed inaction were far, far worse now that the better info is out. Its the difference between getting shot by a single high powered rifle bullet and being peppered at long range repeatedly by a shotgun. The total kinetic energy is the same, and the latter hurts and its certainly no fun, but the former will kill you.

Finally, this admonition I once heard certainly applies to future democrats fixing to tinker with our economy

 "Jame Lewis!  Get your hands off'n that wheelbarrow.  You know you don't know nothing about machinery!"


13 comments:

Anonymous said...

And when the politician's policies fail, they look to us, the public, as a giant piggy bank they get to smash.

If the public is going to prop up these business, then I say the multi-million dollar bonuses paid to the executives of these companies should be seized.

Punish those responsible before Joe Q. Public is saddled with yet more debt.

(To be honest, I would have preferred seeing the companies fail, along with the airlines, Ford/GM, etc. LET THE MARKETPLACE WORK!)

Jack

Anonymous said...

Lets see, either big companies will not get the short term, day to day credit financing that they need; or, the government will take over the Us fuinancial industry (one of the few world class industries the US has). Wait untill all financing decisions are made through the political process. Money for a new oil well and a refinery?, I think not, here have a low interest loan for a ethonal refinery and a wind farm. Aint it great. Soon all big finance deals will go through London and Hong Kong, the million dollar fees will go there, and NYC will look like it did after the Carter inflation. People will wonder why we are poorer.

Let the uninsured institutions go into bankrupcy. Small savers are protected by bank deposit insurance, everyone else will appreciate risk and act responsibly from this momeny forward.

Anonymous said...

"creates a gummint inside the gummint. A gummint not subject to review"

gee... what could possibly go wrong?

e~C

Rodger the Real King of France said...

We're f**ked, any way you look at it. We'll be using the Amero within a decade.

rico567 said...

GREAT post! All the rhetoric is meaningless until there's a crunch...then you see what these weeds are really made of, and all but a few are immediately demonstrated to be nothing but opportunistic gasbags in cheap suits. George W. Bush may not be a mental giant....but he came forward immediately with a plan that could be understood, whether you approve or not. And that's leadership, not diplomas, credentials, certifications, or tenure.

Anonymous said...

So they've bailed out poorly managed big businesses like banks, mortgage brokers, and insurance companies.

When is the federal government going to start bailing out poorly managed small business like dry cleaners, plumbers, pawn shops?

Rodger the Real King of France said...

This is a huge, complex issue Chuck, but it appears to have a root cause tied directly to Democrats forcing lenders to to grant loans to minorities, even absent the ability to repay them. That ethic quickly spread to every Tom, Dick, and Harry who wanted a loan, and was breathing.

I seriously doubt that the financial institutions who bought, what they believed to be low risk bundled loans, had any idea how shaky they were.

If the Democrat party was a corporation (and I believe it is?) they would be liable to repay the entire $700B, and their executives would be sent to prison.

Anonymous said...

I fear whatever the plan and subsequent action, it will cost money we (both the government and us taxpayers) don't have and the net result will be the Treasury printing truckloads of money leading to double digit inflation.
Lt. Col. Gen. Tailgunner dick

pdwalker said...

No problem Lt. Col.

Demand a raise and lobby the government for new minimum wage controls.

that should do it nicely.

Anonymous said...

I am still conservatively sceptical of this bailout, but President Bush has been so right so often. From Il Principe:

"A return to first principles in a republic is sometimes caused by the simple virtues of one man. His good example has such an influence that the good men strive to imitate him, and the wicked are ashamed to lead a life so contrary to his example."

-- Niccolo Machiavelli

Anonymous said...

I read this post earlier and found it so discouraging(and the events of the past week) that I didn't comment. Here goes--one of the disappoinments is to realize that at a point in my life when it is too late to make a significant change, I find I should have gone to work at the beginning for some large company or the gov., been "injured", and sucked up disability for the rest of my life--instead of working, paying my bills, and saving.

mary

Anonymous said...

OH Boy, the DOW closed up for the week. So I guess all the Krazillions added to the debt of the US tax payers are negated. Whoopie! Hey, I hear Lehman is cornering the market on fur-bearing trout farms. Buy, Buy, Buy.

Anonymous said...

It is pretty obvious that we are coming off a global asset bubble. Oil is a good proxy going from 40 -160, but so is real estate - in Dublin, or Fla, or Ca or Rome. Lots of available credit, not too picky about ability to repay, and now the bubble is bursting. Nothing the Treasury does will prop up asset prices. In Japan they did everything including 0% interest and forcing banks to loan deadbeat borrowers the interest and principal due. Stll got a fifteen year asset value decline.

If assets go down in value 20% or 40% or 60%, all secured debt will become nearly worthless. No one pledges 2X collateral so if the value of your collateral asset declines by half your loan is unsecured and unlikely to be repaid more than pennies on the dollar.

The treasury can do anything it wants, asset values will decline quickly, or more slowly if proped up by the treasury, but decline they will. The bubble was worldwide, the burst is worldwide. Russia has not opened its markets for a full day in weeks. A home in europe is plunging in value. Oil pauses when the treasury throus in a few tens of billions, only to continue the march down the next day.

Post a Comment

Just type your name and post as anonymous if you don't have a Blogger profile.