Don't worry Dan. Watching a diavlog from the Holy Land on Rosh Hashana has got to be pretty bad too!

First this then this...hmmm. Background articles of varying relevance (from a quick search) here, here, here, and here.

This is a sad dénouement for the Bush administration. Bush's insightful analysis of the credit crisis and possible solutions on Thursday (see quote below) does not compensate for the years of neglecting the mortgage bubble.

"If money isn't loosened up, this sucker could go down."
- GWB 9/25/08

Quoting Simon Willard: This is a sad dénouement for the Bush administration. Bush's insightful analysis of the credit crisis and possible solutions on Thursday (see quote below) does not compensate for the years of neglecting the mortgage bubble.

"If money isn't loosened up, this sucker could go down."
- GWB 9/25/08

Sheeesh... If people only listened to him...

...instead of substantive economics, note that Jesse Jackson Jr., Barack Obama's national campaign co-chair, voted against the Paulson plan. A llittle research will also show that many House members most indebted to Nancy Pelosi also voted against. Leadership we can hope/change for?

Speaking of Rosa Brooks, why hasn't BH.tv had her on recently? EW

She's doing Maddow now! And kicking ass, too.

Yeah, I loved those images of the impending apocalypse. By the way, it seems that Obama is listening to Bob's advice (at least partly): http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080930/ap_on_el_pr/obama

Nice. I've seen the Maddow show a couple times and liked it (she's a bit less pompous than Olberman), but I hadn't seen Rosa on it yet. I'll have to watch more regularly.

Quoting Namazu: ...instead of substantive economics, note that Jesse Jackson Jr., Barack Obama's national campaign co-chair, voted against the Paulson plan.

Maybe the plan wasn't bold enough. That's what Papa Jackson thinks. See here. Truth is, I was baffled by this whole mess until I read Jesse's exegesis. He explains everything, and I commend his editorial.

I will say once again, after hearing the first third of this diavlog, that I am more thankful than ever that Obama is not taking Bob Wright's advice on how to conduct his campaign. Bob's idealistic suggestion about reaching out to McCain, with the idea that neither would take credit for a solution, has to be about the most dangerously naive view of the GOP that I've heard in years. This is beyond High Broderism. Bob, seriously. Look at how the Republicans in general, and the McCain campaign in particular, have conducted themselves over the past six months. They look for every edge they can grab, including not a few imaginary ones, to use for no other reason than to smear Obama. That's all they have to run on. You cannot count on them to be honorable in the slightest. Please, wake up to reality -- this is a time to be partisan as hell and make sure the public understands that this economic crisis is all the fault of the thinking that McCain embraces.

Quoting Anyuser: Maybe the plan wasn't bold enough. That's what Papa Jackson thinks. See here. Truth is, I was baffled by this whole mess until I read Jesse's exegesis. He explains everything, and I commend his editorial.

I don't know whether to take your comment ironically. I wouldn't entrust JJ Sr. to run a lemonade stand, and it's not clear from his editorial whether he understands that a functioning banking system is actually a requirement for making investments in infrastructure, student loans, etc. [For the record, smart people like Nouriel Roubini have persuaded me that the Paulson plan is an extremely inefficient way to reliquify the banking system, and I don't think there's any reason to pass it under duress.] Nevertheless, voting for the bill is certainly a case of "in for a dime, in for a dollar," so for Obama to vote for it yet fail to lobby a guy who spends a lot of time across the aisle from him on his campaign jet raises some obvious questions about his leadership abilities. Likewise if McCain has close allies in the House who voted no.

Quoting Anyuser: Maybe the plan wasn't bold enough.

Of course, I'm being to harsh on Congress: they're trying to accomplish a feat which I'm sure must violation a core principle of physics, namely spend an unplanned $700B of taxpayer money and enjoy a 95% re-election rate. I'm sure they justifiably fear falling into a black hole or being turned into anti-matter or some such. Oh, the humanity!

Quoting bjkeefe: Bob, seriously. Look at how the Republicans in general, and the McCain campaign in particular, have conducted themselves over the past six months. They look for every edge they can grab, including not a few imaginary ones, to use for no other reason than to smear Obama. That's all they have to run on. You cannot count on them to be honorable in the slightest.

Some strong evidence here: Country First, My Ass.

Namazu, put me down for a donation towards the construction costs of a Large Congresscritter Collider to further research your theory.

charlie brown just can't resist getting behind that football.

Quoting Namazu: I wouldn't entrust JJ Sr. to run a lemonade stand . . . .

Agreed.

Quoting bjkeefe: Bob's idealistic suggestion about reaching out to McCain, with the idea that neither would take credit for a solution, has to be about the most dangerously naive view of the GOP that I've heard in years. This is beyond High Broderism.

You could not possibly be more right. If Bob has any doubt that your analysis is correct, all he has to do is read the advice given by influential GOP blogger, Patrick Ruffini, nine days ago, when it became clear that drastic action was needed to avert catastrophe. Read it and weep, Bob:

Republicans Should Vote Against the Bailout

Republican incumbents in close races have the easiest vote of their lives coming up this week: No on the Bush-Pelosi Wall Street bailout.

God Himself couldn't have given rank-and-file Republicans a better opportunity to create political space between themselves and the Administration. That's why I want to see 40 Republican No votes in the Senate, and 150+ in the House. If a bailout is to pass, let it be with Democratic votes. Let this be the political establishment (Bush Republicans in the White House + Democrats in Congress) saddling the taxpayers with hundreds of billions in debt

Since the Republican strategy was to, in effect, play Lucy to the Democrats' Charlie Brown, the Democrats might have done a very smart thing, yesterday, by letting this bill fail. Let the world see, once again, which party is responsible and adult, and which is filled with raving cultural conservative lunatics. Wall Street and corporate America built the monster of the modern GOP. Let them behold their creation and contemplate their destruction at its hands, for a little while, before once again the adult party steps up and saves the country. They didn't get the lesson in 1993-2000, when Clinton finally restored balance and a surplus to the federal budget after 12 years of Republican profligacy. Maybe they will get the lesson now. Way too much to ask for, I know. .

Thanks for gathering those up, Twin.

One thing very little mentioned is the extent that the credit problems driving the panic (that is, defaulting mortgages) have a pretty definite geography. Any attempt to broaden the legislation towards a bailout of individual mortgage holders should be greatly resisted by public officials not from California, Florida and a couple of other locales. Falling house values are a national phenomena, but actual defaults exhibit much greater geographic specificity. It is a painful burden on the public to backstop the credit markets to the extent which is probably required, but it would be intolerable for certain favored states to upgrade their housing stocks on the national dime. If Missourians wish to send money to Californians, I guess they could do so, but to have the Federal government oblige them to do so would be pretty bad in my view.

Quoting claymisher: She's [Rosa Brooks is] doing Maddow now! And kicking ass, too.

Oh, indeed! (Not having a TV, I tend to miss out on these things.) So I just went over to YouTube and searched: "Maddow Rosa Brooks" and there you see her giving, very sweetly, the McCain crew one very hard time in a series of different clips. Still, I'd like to see her back here. I think it's been like six weeks or something... EW

Can work. The Japanese banking industry had to cope with a large amount of 'distributed risk' during the 90s. Banks owned shares of their competitors. Shares counted as equity/cash to inflate the value of capital reserves which would have been far lower if mark to market valuations had been imposed. Government regulators did not want to see banks go under. Larger banks moved in to take control of unhealthy banks. A number of mergers followed as banks began absorbing and writing off large amounts of bad debt. A number of people in the financial sector did lose their jobs and there must have been connected job loss as well. The economy did go into recession. However, most people did not lose their jobs. Some companies increased the number of part-time workers to avoid paying benefits. The Economist provides an excellent summary of Japan's plans to move into the vacuum created by US failures. UFJ-Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi is moving in to take up to 20% of Morgan-Stanley. Joseph Stiglitz claims a long-term recession is more or less inevitable and that the Chosen One will win the election on the back

Quoting Exeus99: Namazu, put me down for a donation towards the construction costs of a Large Congresscritter Collider to further research your theory.

I think the strain on the Federal research budget may force us to consider a lower-cost experiment: http://www.willitblend.com/

The Congressional leadership of Pelosi and Reid leaves a lot to be desired. Hopefully, with larger majorities they may be able to do something. Also, Jesse Jackson Sr. is yesterday's news. I didn't get much from this diavlog. The one with Arnold Kling kind of nailed a lot of this obtuse economic material down. However, it still sounds like it's a bailout for the "fat cats." John

lemmings. nuf said.

How bout calling it "giving the Secretary of the Treasury upwards of a trillion dollars in pretty much unaccountable and non-reviewable authority to intervene in the economy as he sees fit, without taking any real time to think about it or explore alternatives because the situation is so dire that we just have to to it RIGHT NOW OR THE SKY MIGHT FALL"? That would be another way to describe it, right?

Quoting bkjazfan: I didn't get much from this diavlog. The one with Arnold Kling kind of nailed a lot of this obtuse economic material down. However, it still sounds like it's a bailout for the "fat cats."

John

Bob should step up and put his professional reputation on the line to get some leading experts as guests. There was some signal loss in his interpretation of Kling's lucid presentation of the issues. The fat cat has pretty much left the barn at this point*, and the proposed add-on to the House bill is just a fig leaf. The main issue in all this, which might still be in play, is whether to a) buy the bad assets from financial assets and sell them later, b) inject capital directly banks, or c) let the chips fall where they may. The Paulson plan is a), but a lot of very bright people who saw this coming favor b), including Roubini, Soros, many top economists, financial bloggers, and savvy market participants. [I am in the uncomfortable position of reporting that Bill Gross and Warren Buffett are full of shit on this question. The taxpayer comes out ahead precisely to the extent that the execution of the plan fails to make the banks healthy. Money isn't non-zero.] In addition, b) or options more like b) have proven more successful in past banking crises throughout the world. c) looks pretty ugly right now, but b) doesn't mitigate this ugliness directly. The goal in any case[/i]

Quoting Eastwest: Oh, indeed! (Not having a TV, I tend to miss out on these things.)

EW

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp

Quoting Eastwest: So I just went over to YouTube and searched: "Maddow Rosa Brooks" and there you see her giving, very sweetly, the McCain crew one very hard time in a series of different clips.

Thanks for the tip.

Still, I'd like to see her back here. I think it's been like six weeks or something...

Ditto.

Quoting TwinSwords: They didn't get the lesson in 1993-2000, when Clinton finally restored balance and a surplus to the federal budget after 12 years of Republican profligacy. Maybe they will get the lesson now.

Way too much to ask for, I know.

Yes, thank God the Democrats finally retook Congress in 1994 and passed the first balanced budgets in 40 years. When will ReTHUGlicans get the message from smart people like you and me?

Quoting popeyethesailorman: H