National Citybought by PNC Financial to for $5.2 Billion.
They have been in trouble for a while.
*Quoting Atrios.
Month: October 2008
Economics Update
In energy, OPEC formally announces production cuts, though the price of oil continues to fall, as does the price of gasoline.
It should be noted that even with falling energy prices, the markets are so spooked that the futures contracts triggered so called circuit breakers for the S&P 500.
It’s not just the S%P that has gone into the twilight zone. The credit meltdown has pushed the interest rate of long term interest rate derivatives to negative numbers. Basically, it’s a “safe” way to lock in an interest rate, and the market is so uncertain, that people are willing do do worse than their mattresss.
Meanwhile currency is…well…confused, with the dollar gaining against the Pound and Euro, but the Yen hit a 13 year high. No clue as to what is going on there.
In any case, even if the recession isn’t official yet, it is in the UK, where GDP fell by 0.2%.
Bad Financial Journalism
So, here we see the artcle based on data from the National Association of Realtors (NAR), an organization whose statements should trigger very loud bullsh^% alert titled, “U.S. Home Resales Rose in September to One-Year High.”
Noting that home sales grew 5.1% from in September, 2008 as compared to August 2008.
The housing crash is over…Let the rejoicing begin!!!!!
Bad Journalism…the real story is that, “Foreclosure-related sales accounted for 35 percent to 40 percent of last month’s total,” and that’s the NAR’s, whose job is to lie like a rug present a rosy estimate.
But Mr. Morggage of the Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter notes that actual existing home sales are down, the month to month is created by seasonal sdjustments, and seasonal markets only should be applied to a stable market, not one in free fall.
By his figuring, existing home sales fell by 9.6% between August and September.
Me, I’d split the difference, which gives us (5.1%-9.6%)/2 or a drop of 2.05% for no reason at all. I pulled the equation out of my overly ample ass.
See table pron below.
Click for full sized.
Not Enough Bullets: Where Bailout Money Goes
The taxpayers are shelling out $700 billion, and $70billion is going to executive bonuses, 10% for the mathematically disinclined.
Sorry, but outside of the cafeteria worker and custodian, none of these folks deserve a bonus.
I know that they will make claims about motivation, but how about something like, I don’t know, the threat of arrest and imprisonment?
When Ideology Makes You Stupid
The FDIC is trying to create a program to guarantee home mortgages to encourage modifications to contracts. This is stupid, particularly because in many of the cases, you can’t find anyone to modify the contract, because the instrument is held in a portfolio of bonds with hundreds, if not thousands, of stake-holders, all of whom have a legal right to veto any change,
The solution is simple, and does not cost the taxpayer anything: Modify bankruptcy to allow judges to modify mortgages. When you can’t find the owner of the loan, an judge handles it, and when you can, it to force lenders to the table.
We Are Living in Bizarro World
and John Sidney McCain III is the Bizarro candidate.
Case in point, according to a filing with the Federal Election Commission, the highest paid person in the McCain campaign in the first week of October was her makeup artist:
That annualizes to $592,800.00 a year.
Ms. Strozzi, who was nominated for an Emmy award for her makeup work on the television show “So You Think You Can Dance?”, was paid $22,800 for the first two weeks of October alone, according to the records. The campaign categorized Ms. Strozzi’s payment as “Personnel Svc/Equipment.”
That annualizes to $592,800.00 a year.
In addition, Angela Lew, who is Ms. Palin’s traveling hair stylist, got $10,000
for “Communications Consulting” in the first half of October. Ms. Lew’s address
listed in F.E.C. records traces to an Angela M. Lew in Thousands Oaks, Calif.,
which matches with a license issued by the California Board of Barbering and
Cosmetology. The board said Ms. Lew works at a salon called Hair Grove in
Westlake Village, Calif.
$260,000.00/year.
I’m in the wrong bloody line of work.
Credit Crunch Humor
Argentina Plans to Renationalize Pensions
Of course, Moody’s investor’s services hates the idea.
I will make a note on the bigger picture: When Argentina privatized its pension system over a decade ago, it set the stage for its brutal economic implosion in the first place, because it stripped the government of all reserves in the process.
In response to the reports of the plans the Argentina markets dropped like a stone (13%).
I will note Brad Delong’s blog, and this quote:
The private retirement system, set up in 1994 to help bolster capital markets, owns about 5 percent of companies listed on the Buenos Aires stock exchange and 27 percent of shares available for public trading, data compiled by pension funds show.
The market crash was inevitable. It would either happen now, or when the population cohorts start sellling stocks when they retire.
This should have been done sooner.
Mahoney’s Wife Files for Divorce
Well it looks like everyone’s favorite faux Dem and serial sexual harrasser has just had his wife file for divorce.
This seat will be going to a ‘Phant this cycle
A special thanks goes out to Rahm Emmanuel, who recruited him and got him to change parties to run, and scared off the real Democrat running for the nomination in 2006.
A Good Note on Policy
Tom Angotti of the Gotham Gazette Makes a very good point:
Neither of the two candidates [Obama and McCain] has explicitly acknowledged the failure of the current urban policy that single-mindedly promotes homeownership. But if history is not to repeat itself, both parties might do well to explicitly acknowledge the needs and problems of urban renters – that means the majority of New Yorkers — and redefine the “American Dream” as a stable job, a rent-controlled apartment and a safe, walkable urban environment.
This is true. In addition to being a failure in regulation and monetary policy, it is a failure of philosophy on two levels:
- As Greenspan admits free market fundamentalism has failed.
- The idea of a stand alone home owned by the occupant as an unexpurgated good.
Many of our problems, not just the housing crash, but also urban sprawl, are a direct result of the latter philosophy.
Another Bald Guy Gets Top Bailout Bailiwick
I did not come up with bon mot, rather it was John Carney at Clusterstock did. He was talking about James H. Lambright, former head of the Export-Import Bank, who has been tapped to serve as interim Chief Investment Officer for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).
Mr. Carney notes that we should be concerned, and not just because we have, “Bald midwestern ex-Wall Streeter running our banking system.”
In his time at the Ex-Im Bank, it appears that his main accomplishment was to remove it from congressional scrutiny by making it self financing.
In English this means that Congress has no control, but is still liable for the bill if the Ex-Im bank sees losses.
And now they want him to be in charge of investments at TARP….Lovely.
Eurocrats Looking at Massive Propaganda Campaign in Ireland
It looks like they are looking for another bite at the apple after the Irish referendum on the Lisbon Treaty went down in flames.
So, now we are seeing EU propoganda minister communication commissioner Margot Wallstrom suggesting what is needed is a major education campaign, but remember, don’t actually talk about the treaty that is at issue:
“Whatever you do, you won’t have in the end everybody reading a 400-page document,” she said. “That’s what MEPs are being paid for.”
Better yet, don’t have a 400 page constitution. The original constitution of the United States, including all amendments, is less than 15 pages.
You had people vote on a byzantinely complex document where no one, not even your vaunted MEPs understand the complete document.
That’s enough reason to vote against it, because who knows what mischief, corruption, and self dealing lives in those pages.
Gary Larson Works for Standard & Poors and Caused the Credit Meltdown?
I’ve always wondered what he did after he shuttered his daily The Far Side job, and now we know that he got a job at S&P, because, when cows are at the center of malfeasance, Gary Larson will be there:
Official #1: Btw (by the way) that deal is ridiculous.
Official #2: I know right…model def (definitely) does not capture half the risk.
Official #1: We should not be rating it.
Official #2: We rate every deal. It could be structured by cows and we would rate it.
(emphasis mine)
Gary Larson rules our world.
Sarah Palin Has Another Wardrobe Malfunction
Get your minds out of the gutter…Janet Jackson, she ain’t, and this is a real picture, no photoshop, and it cost a lot less than $150,000.00
This is Sarah Palin, and she is wearing a Democratic Party vote scarf.
The photographer in question did not even notice until other people did.
Someone pulled a great practical joke on the Alaska governor.
Not Enough Bullets: South Korean Edition
A South Korean financial analyst, Han Sang-choon, was fired for saying that much of the losses people have experienced in the market are the result of greed:
“I reckon people haven’t cashed in their funds because of personal greed and expectations (of profits),” he told an investor, according to quotes from the Friday TV show that appeared widely in South Korean media.
There is a saying, “In Wall Street, the Bears make money, and the Bulls make money, and the Pigs lose.”
When Do We Invade Cuba?
Because the recent estimates on the size of recently discovered offshore oil reserves at 20 billion barrels, roughly the same as the reserves in the US.
This should have US oil companies who want a cut of this lobbying for an elimination of the embargo, which is a good thing.
How Russians View NATO and the US
Yes, I am quoting an article in Pravda, and I think that what it says about Russian attitudes is more important than the objective truth (though I generally agree):
….
NATO was originally designed to keep Germany down, America in Europe and the Soviets out. With no Soviet Union, NATO’s purpose, like that of all good bureaucracies, has mutated. It has reneged on its promises to Russia not to expand eastward and has expanded eastward into some rather questionable regimes, particularly in the Baltics. All the same, as it was declaring Russia a useful partner, though a minor one not worthy of ever inviting in, it sought out a new purpose.
….
Afghanistan was and is the first real NATO fighting war. No longer is this primarily NATO bombers dropping bombs, often on civilians targets, from 3,500 meters, no this is a fighting war with a jihadist guerrilla force, trained by the very same NATO experts. Afghanistan as a whole has already shown NATO to be an empty shell. Many of the members have opted out of contributing anything to the conflict and quite a few that have sent soldiers have sent them with such strict rules of engagement (ROE)s that they are all but useless.
To the Anglo-American Neocons, this of course was a disaster. Their grip on power over Europe and thus the EU in general, was cracking. Add to this the economic knots tied by Russia to several key members, using the very real ropes of energy and business investments, and NATO was opting to be nothing more than a sewing circle.
The Anglo-American Neocons had to take bold action, something that would cause the member states of NATO to recoil back under the Neocon umbrella and unify against a common enemy. But whom? The Muslims showed little ability to project military power into Europe, they do much better with immigrants. The Chinese were out of the question a general rule, way to much elite money at risk for that kind of nonsense. Thus there was only one clear choice: Russia. But how to resurrect the Soviet Union, or at least it’s shadow?
Enter stage right, a small time Georgian dictator and one not to bright but very egotistical. The perfect dupe: Saakashvili.
….
Still, all this in itself, may not be enough to finally finish off NATO and end the 100 years of Ideological Warfare, for yes, dear reader, we have yet to leave that period. Russia is no longer the Soviet Union, no longer the Stalinist Marxists, but Economic Trotskyite Marxism (fascism) is alive and well, having infected the West flowing from the decayed corpse of Military Trotskyite Marxism (Nazism). NATO is the final guard against the return of the traditional world, where nations sought economic advantage for themselves not in the name of some mutant form of Internationalism. It is the final guard against nationalistic states that sought the betterment of their people first and foremost and not that of some hypothetical global village or for the internationalistic elite.
The Bank Panic of 2008 may be, however the final stone to knock down this aged and staggering Goliath. The Anglo-American Trotskyites who created this mess are in short, bankrupt. Their ability to project power grows weaker every day with a new DOW low. At the same time, nations such as Iceland, once one of their key military posts, are seeking aid not from their so called allies but from Russia itself. Bound together by economic or cultural or religious or historical ties, or all of the above, nations such as Iceland, Germany, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Czech, Slovakia and others will naturally pull away from the now bankrupt alliance. Historical ties that were supposed to have died along with history, as proclaimed by one of the fathers of Trotskyite Neoconism: Fukuyama, will now return the globe to an equilibrium long not seen and one that promises more stability than the Internationalist regimes of the past 100 years.
Going through Stanislav Mishin’s other blog posts, it’s clear that he’s a bit of a Russian nationalist, though less so than any Fox News commentator, and his 16 reasons for Russia to NEVER trust the West is an instructive read, even if you disagree with parts of it.
Juror Goes Missing in Stevens Trial
We’ve had complaint about one juror from the other 11, and now we have a juror going missing, because of a family emergency, and cannot be reached.
No clue as to what the judge might do if the person does not show up tomorrow morning.
This trial is really shaping up to be a clusterf$#@.
Bush Caved Completely in Status of Forces Agreement
The Washington Independent has the scoop. Basically, Bush and His Evil Minions™completely caved to Iraqi demands.
You’ll recall that they pushed back the date to 2011, for, as Nouri al-Maliki admitted, for US domestic political reasons, and that is what it says in sub-article one of article 25 of the agreement:
The U.S. forces shall withdraw from Iraqi territories no later than December 31 2011.
But wait, there’s more, there is also sub-article 6:
U.S. forces may withdraw from Iraq before the dates indicated in this article if either of the two sides should so request. The U.S. government recognizes the Iraqi government’s sovereign right to request a withdrawal of U.S. forces at anytime.
So we leave when we’re told to leave by al Maliki, and indirectly by his sponsors in the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Alan “Bubbles” Greenspan Is Shocked At Meltdownan
So now Greenspan is shocked that a completely unregulated market leads to irrational speculation and abuse.
At the core of the theory capitalism is the idea that selfish people thinking only of themselves are what make the system work.*
If you had ever gotten your head far enough out of Ayn Rand’s long dead festering ass, you would have noticed that there were dozens, if not hundreds, of people you worked with who told you that this was going to happen.
You sir, are not a tool, because a tool has a use.
*Yes, I am paraphrasing Keynes.