Archive for November, 2008

I am providing you all a link to this New York Times article:U.S. Approves Plan to Help Citigroup Cope With Losses – NYTimes.com for two reasons.
First: it has an excellent embedded graphic showing the long list of bailout money that has so far been spent. Second: it has a terrific photograph of George Bush… »

Here’s today’s figures on home prices via the New York Times:Home Prices Plunge in October
The long term decline in house prices can be expected to continue. Do not believe the analysts. They are the ones who completely missed the dangers of the housing bubble and its impact on society. Home prices as… »

Allow me to rant:
Floyd Norris has a regular column over at the New York Times. I often disagree with his analysis, based as it is on old school neo-classical mechanics and common or garden market dogma. So with that as a warning here’s a link to his blog today:A Bull Vanishes – Floyd… »

OK this is fun. This is leadership we can believe in:
Paulson, Bair clash over aid to troubled homeowners – MarketWatch

That’s right. Sheila Bair from the FDIC and Hank Paulson from our heroic Treasury Department [aka an annex of Goldman Sachs] openly disagreed on a fundamental part of the ongoing strategy to jump… »

For those of you who need a ghoulish fix on economic data. Here’s a morsel:
Home builders’ mood shows more anguish than ever – MarketWatch

Yes that’s right. The National Association of Home Builders began tracking their members attitudes towards their industry’s outlook in 1985. Like a lot of people they publish an index… »

There’s some good stuff in this article in today’s New York Times:On Washington – The Great Bailout Debate
We need clarity, and given the ridiculous nature of American transitional politics we won’t get any. Right now we need leadership … oh well.
The fact remains that saving GM is a hopeless cause. It’s a dead… »

Not all the jobs cuts announced at Citigroup this morning will be outright layoffs. Like all inept managers the Vikram Pandit team has sought to obfuscate as much as possible on that figure. Here is the New York Time’s coverage:Citi Plans Asset Sales and Job Cuts
The damage will be felt most here in… »