September 2008

BREAKING: Wall Street Mega-Merger!!!

BREAKING NEWS! Mega Merger on Wall Street just announced!!!

In a surprise move, a slew of Wall Street firms brought together by the Fed and the US Treasury Department originally to discuss bailing out Lehman Brothers, decided to merge with each other instead.

The new entity, which Wall Street sources said was to be called CitiLehmanUnitedBearStearnsJPMorganGoldmanSachsAIGMerrillWaMu - FannieFreddieUnionCountrywideKravitz, will trade on the Exchanges under the shortened acronym, CLUSTERF*CK.

Breakin' Up is Hard to Do - Those Lehman Brothers to Split

This is astounding. We didn't get our Friday surprise. I guess we didn't get the announcement of Lehman on Friday simply because they cannot work out the details to hide or cover another failure and now it appears they are planning on breaking Lehman Brothers up and selling it off.

We'll have to call it the Monday surprise which I'm sure they will try to delay for assuredly markets will tank.

Lehman Forced To Break Up?

Also, WaMu is wobbling, latest rumours.

What about the ban on naked shorts? With this kind of carnage going on why would they allow naked shorts? WSJ reports:

The End of the American Empire

Most people think that all you need to maintain an empire is guns, bombs, and soldiers. They are wrong.
To maintain an empire what you need above all else is money. Lots and lots of money. A victorious army in the field is useless without the wealth behind it.

A good example of this is the Suez Crisis of 1956, which marked the end to the British Empire.
America is following in Britain's footsteps.

Britain's attempt to strong-arm Egypt had indirectly caused a nationalist backlash and Gamal Abdul Nasser's rise to power. When Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal, Israel, France, and Britain invaded and quickly routed the Egyptian army.
But they had forgotten to do one thing - clear it with America.

Pointing Fingers - Can It Lead to an Implosion?

A hard hitting Obama campaign ad against John McCain points out he is surrounded by corporate lobbyists writing policies he would implement as a Government administration.

Mud comment

Obama's lobbyists? Well it's a little more indirect but it's really a matter of wording, the same people are giving the money.
http://www.whitehouseforsale.org

Circular firing squad? Hope of all hopes.

Friday Movie Night - What is Globalization?

It's Friday Night! Party Time! Time to relax, put your feet up on the couch, lay back, and watch some detailed videos on economic policy! This weeks video clip theme is Globalization. What is Globalization? Well, let's take a turn to the far left. It is the far left who really were warning on unfettered capitalism across national boundaries long before arbitrage hit mainstream: Norm Chomsky tries to answer what Globalization even is:

America's Addiction

“A moderate addiction to money may not always be hurtful; but when taken in excess it is nearly always bad for the health.”
- Clarence Day

America needs an intervention.
Like any addict, America can't see the dependency problem that is killing it. President Bush tells us that we have an addiction to oil, and he's right. But that isn't the addiction that is killing us.
The monkey that we need to get off our backs is the dependency on other people's money. If we don't kick this habit it will ruin us for sure.

"Money doesn't mind if we say it's evil, it goes from strength to strength. It's a fiction, an addiction, and a tacit conspiracy."
- Martin Amis

Tax and Spend Democrats

Republicans have successfully equated “Tax and Spend” and the “Democratic Party” for as long as I can remember. They have been extremely successful in throwing out this phrase to scare tax payers into believing that Democrats want to take their hard earned money and squander it on things that the Republicans feel are unnecessary. Every time a Republican is running for office, or just talking about Democrats in general, the term is used as an insult, without a rebuttal from Democrats.

I don’t understand why Democrats haven’t embraced this term and used it to their own advantage. “Tax and Spend” actually equates to “fiscal responsibility”. It has nothing to do with over taxing citizens or wasteful spending. It simply means that we should pay for what we spend rather than borrowing the money from our children and grand children.

Pages