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Two Ladies on the Bailout

Judy Shelton has a fantastic op ed in today’s WSJ on the need for a gold standard. I kept waiting for “her” to say, “Surprise! It’s really Ron Paul writing! Gotcha!” Here’s my favorite part that you rarely see mentioned in mainstream “free market” outlets: If capitalism depends on designating a person of godlike abilities […]

"Why Rescue AIG But Not Lehman?"

One possible reason: Goldman Sachs would have lost $20 billion if AIG failed, whereas Lehman is a competitor. According to this article: The seeds of much of the financial chaos engulfing America were sown in London, by a single unit of AIG, the financial services firm recently bailed out by the US Treasury. The New […]

Diamond Hill CEO Explains Why He Wanted Off the SEC’s No-Short List

So far as I know, only Diamond Hill and JMP Investments have asked to be taken off the SEC’s list. I wonder if there is behind-the-scenes pressure for other firms not to follow suit, because it seems like free advertising for firms with relatively clean balance sheets. Either that, or the other 800+ firms on […]

The Great Bank Robbery of 2008

I give the lowdown here. Incidentally, much of this is repetition for “long time” Free Advice readers, but one novelty is that I discuss the claim that the taxpayers might make money on the deal: Some analysts think that the price paid for these “toxic” assets is important. No it isn’t. The government officials running […]

The $700 Billion Pelosi Speech

Here is the “partisan” speech that allegedly so angered the Republicans that they decided to vote against the Paulson bailout after all. I can’t decide which side is less ridiculous on this one. On the one hand, Barney Frank had a good comeback, when he said of the defecting Republicans something like, “So their feelings […]

"OK If We Can’t Borrow $700 Billion, We’ll Just Print $630 Billion!"

Or so our financial wizards seem to be saying. Here’s a Bloomberg article title we haven’t seen before: “Fed Pumps Further $630 Billion into Financial System.” (HT2EPJ)

House Rejects Bailout Plan!!

This is great stuff. First the Democrats let the offshore ban expire, and now they don’t ram through the Paulson Plan. Will wonders never cease? I still think some version of this is going to happen, but I admit that I thought it was a done deal after the Sunday announcements.

Remarks from a Wall Street Big Gun

My buddy on Wall Street wrote to me in an email saying: I have been catching myself thinking the last few weeks…”I will never invest in a financial institution.” Why? It seems that if they are insolvent the government just seizes them. If other kinds of companies go bankrupt there are still contracts, property rights […]