Month: January 2009
ABout F^%$ing Time!!!!
The Treaury is finally, “demanding monthly reports from the banks that received the most capital from the government’s $700 billion rescue program.”
You see, this isn’t so tough.
Gas is Flowing Again
Austria is reporting that it is getting gas again, which, given their location, means that the taps are opened again.
Economics Update
The US dollar posted big gains today, driven in part by the inauguration, but more so by bank of Canada slashing its benchmark rate by 50 basis points (½%), to an all time low of 1%, and the Bank of England making noises that sound suspiciously like cranking up the printing press.
In real estate, the National Multi Housing Council’s Market Tightness Index fell to 11 in the 4th quarter, down from 23 in the 3rd quarter, so there is downward pressure on rental properties too.
Oil was up, but this was the last day for trading on this contracts for February delivery, which, coupled with the markets being closed for yesterday’s MLK holiday, puts a lot of noise into the number.
So Predictable
It’s been about a day, and Hamas launches mortar shells at Israel, and they miss, with the shells landing somewhere in Gaza.
Not surprisingly, it appears that the war has boosted Likud in the polls, with, “right-wing and religious parties are projected to control a 10-seat majority over a coalition of center, left, and Arab parties in the 120-seat parliament,” which means no unity government.
The other big political winner in the war is Labor, which went from 4th or 5th place to a solid 3 in polls
The election is still 3 weeks away, but Benyamin “Dick Cheney without the Charm” Netanyahu looks to be lock as next PM.
Things that I Will Not Talk About On This Blog
She Who Must Not Be Named, They Who Must Not Be Named, and what Michelle Obama chooses to wear, or for that matter, what anyone in politics wears, unless it indicates health issues (Cheney and heavy jackets and moccasins, for example).
That is all.
Kennedy Suffers Seizure At Inaugural Luncheon
He is apparrently conscious and speaking.
Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, We Are Free at Last!
George W. Bush is no longer president of the US.
National Archives to Get Boxes of Poo from Dick Cheney
Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly has ruled that Dick Cheney has the power to decide which of his papers are transferred to the national archives:
The Justice Department provided what U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly called “constantly shifting arguments” in the case, but, she said, “That confusion is not evidence” that would undermine the sworn deposition of Claire M. O’Donnell, a Cheney aide who handles record-keeping and other administrative tasks.
“The Court expects,” she said, that White House officials “will, in good faith, comply with the representations that their officials have made, by way of testimony, in this case.” As a result, she granted summary judgment on the White House’s behalf and lifted a five-month-old injunction mandating the preservation of Cheney’s records.
And I’m Jamie Lee Curtis.
One of the plaintiffs, Stanley I. Kutler, an emeritus professor of history and law at the University of Wisconsin Law School, said he remains worried that “when the Archives goes to open Cheney’s papers, they are going to find empty boxes.”
Nope, they want some weight there, and an empty box is not his style. My guess is that Cheney threw out his back squatting over his document boxes and taking a dump in them.
Because Cheney is not leaving without a hearty f#@k you to everyone.
Fiat to Get 35% Chrysler Stake for Magic Beans
We have the rumor that Fiat will be paid to take a stake in Chrysler:
Fiat, the stronger of the two, wouldn’t immediately put cash into Chrysler. Instead it would obtain its stake mainly in exchange for covering the cost of retooling a Chrysler plant to produce one or more Fiat models to be sold in the U.S., these people said. Fiat would also provide engine and transmission technology to help Chrysler introduce new, fuel-efficient small cars, they said.
Fiat is been trying to get back into the US market for years, and now they are getting a domestic factory for free.
If Fiat can get their Diesel model 500 or Panda into the US, both of which get something north of 50 mpg, they would have a real winner.
Update: the Freep confirms the deal.
H/T Calculated Risk.
Zimbabwe Update
It seems that on the way out of office, Bush issued an order making it legal to sell arms to Zimbabwe. He found that, “Furnishing of defense articles and defense services to the Southern African Development Community will strengthen the security of the United States and promote world peace,” which authorizes sales to Zimbabwe too.
Meanwhile, the MDC is finally flat out saying that Mbeki is unacceptable as a mediator, which they should have done many months ago.
Of course, Mbeki is still there and mediating, and doing his best to enable Mugabe.
We also have reports of Senior MDC officials being arrested, along with reports of plans for an iminent arrest of Morgan Tsvangerai, head of the MDC.
Unsurprisingly, the most recent set of talks on powersharing have failed.
Damn Him, for Making Me Feel Sorry for a Member of the Bush Administration
By him, I mean Spocko of Spocko’s Brain, who has made a bit of a habit of reviewing the antics of right wing shock jocks in the Bay Area.
He has contacted sponsors with tapes of what these guys said, and this time, he comes across ABC radio jocks talking about employing Dana Perino on their show, and wondering if her employment would require, “full frontal nudity.”
I am so glad I don’t listen to AM radio.
An Army of Over-Promoted, Ideologically Vetted Homunculi
That’s the way that commie/pinko publication The Economist describes Bush appointees in general, and Alberto “Abu” Gonzales in particular, in an article describing his legacy.
It’s nice to see the knives come out from the right, even if it’s just the UK right.
I’m waiting for the Weekly Standard to do the same.
If I were a betting man, I would bet on their Labor Day issue of this year.
H/T WallStreetJackass.
Gaza Update
Well things in Gaza are largely quiet, and Israel plans to have its troops outbefore the inauguration.
I would note that the matter of weapons movement across the Philidelphi crossing is still unresolved, which to my implies that this is not really much of a victory.
I’m not sure how they could have achieved a victory in any case, unless they had recovered Gilad Shalit.
I expect rockets to fall again before the election, and for Netanyahu to win as a result.
Nationalizing the Banks
Well, it appears that we have Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman, Portfolio’s Felix Salmon, and the Financial Times’ Willem Buiter’s all calling for nationalization.
Basically, all three of them say, and I agree, that that the banks are “zombie banks”, dead but still walking, and that the most effective, and the most cost effective for the taxpayer, solution is for the government to take them over and allow their problems to unwind.
They all agree that the idea of the “bad bank”, basically the Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC) from the S&L bailout, but without taking over the banks, is among the worst possible solutions.
Basically, if you buy these banks assets at market value, they are still insolvent, and if you overpay, the taxpayer loses and the banks are encouraged to do more stupid things.
To my mind, I would actually set up a government agency to directly make loans to business, and let the banks all hang…What I have repeatedly called “amputating the financial sector.”
I would add that with banks publicly declaring that they will take the money and not open up their lending, we need some serious tough love hate headed towards the banks.
My Heart Bleeds Borscht
It appears that no one wants to hire people whose last job was as one of Bush’s Evil Minions™:
As President-elect Barack Obama’s team transitions into the federal government tomorrow, President Bush’s political appointees will be locked out, and in these tough economic times many of them are scrambling to find new jobs. High-ranking White House loyalists have deluged Washington headhunters with pleas for jobs. Corporations and nonprofit organizations have stopped hiring. With the GOP out of power, jobs on Capitol Hill are scant and K Street lobbying firms have trimmed their golden parachutes.
So this is the new reality: Instead of boasting to friends and colleagues of new jobs in goodbye e-mails, many longtime Bush aides have offered home phone numbers and Gmail and Yahoo e-mail addresses as their new contacts.
“For Republicans, the inn is full,” lamented veteran GOP operative Ron Kaufman, a close White House adviser to former president George H.W. Bush and an executive at Dutko Worldwide. “You have lots of folks in the House and Senate on the streets and 3,000 administration appointees on the streets at a time when the job market is shrinking anyways. It’s just not a fun time.”
You know, Republicans claim to hate the federal government and DC culture. So just go home.
This has been your daily dose of Schadenfreude.
Economics Update
It really is beginning to look like the UK is going to be hit worse by this than the US, with Gordon Brown unveiling a new bank bailout, one which, shocker, requires the banks to lend the money out again, imagine that.
I would imagine that the catalyst for this action was that Royal Bank of Scotland posted a £ 28 billion loss for 2008.
Even more than the US, the UK seems to have banked on (pun not intended) finance being the future of their economy, and they are suffering as a result.
Spain, which created a boom on real estate, is doing worse with S&P cutting the rating on its debt from AAA to AA+.
The downgrades to countries like Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Ireland are throwing a monkey wrench into the vision of the Euro Zone as a unitary institution:
Diverging bond yields hurt [Euro Central Bank President] Trichet’s argument that the ECB’s inflation-fighting mandate ushered in an era of stability for nations that once suffered rampant price growth. They also make it tougher for the ECB, which cut its key rate to a record yesterday, to set one benchmark for all 16 euro nations. That may delay recovery as governments try to fund stimulus plans.
Autos are not great either, with France talking about a partial takeover its car makers in order to bail them out, and GM at risk of defaulting on its recent government loan, because it cannot find enough debtors to swap debt for equity.
Likely, the sticking point here is PIMCO, the worlds largest bond fund, which has just been hired to manage a Federal Reserve facility, so they are extorting GM, while at the same time, they are being paid to manage the Fed’s attempt to fix the problem of frozen credit.
It’s nice when you can generate demand for your services without having to deal with the market, I guess.
Meanwhile, in currency, the dollar was stronger today, largely on the UK bank rescue, and the Ruble continues its slide.
In energy, oil is down, largely on the end of Gaza fighting and the Russian-Ukranian gas deal, and retail gasoline is up again today.
I don’t expect it to go above $4/gal soon, but I think that sub $2/gal gasoline will be gone shortly.
Gas Deal Reported
I hope that this one is not a false alarm
Under the reported deal, Ukraine will pay 20 percent less than the European price for this year. This means a substantial increase for Ukraine in the first quarter but the price could fall significantly later in the year as gas prices are expected to drop.
It does seem to be a fair deal to both sides….Which Is why I’m wondering when it will fall apart.
Also, Slovakia has put off restarting is Soviet era nuke plant.
They had declared an emergency because of the gas crisis, and were talking about restarting it.
Signs of the Apocalypse
The Cardinals are going to the Super Bowl????
The 1990s Defense Industry Consolidation Did Not Save Money
The report here only applies to a study of consolidation of U.S. shipbuilding operations, but having worked in the defense industry over that period, I can tell you it did not work there either.
Instead, you saw bizarre expensive workshare arrangements to preserve the only two entities capable of producing a weapon system, because if you only had one, then it makes sense to nationalize the industry.
It’s Rubinomics applied to the military-industrial complex, and a failure.