Corrente

... and BTD does.

Man, would I like to be wrong on this, too. Past performance not being a guarantee of future results... Read below the fold...

A silver lining on those golden parachutes:

Fears are mounting that many Wall Street banks and financial firms will refuse to participate in the US government's $700bn bail-out package, leaving global markets and world economies in a perilous state for months to come.

'There is a growing feeling that banks ... might instead decide to tough it out,' said Thomas Caldwell, chairman and CEO of Caldwell Financial, a $1bn-plus fund manager....

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Bush, that little turd, isn't even worthy of hate. Anyhow, a lot of people did very well for themselves during his rule, so what's not to like?

President George W. Bush said ``it's going to take a while'' for confidence in financial markets to be restored even with the $700 billion federal effort to shore up banks and other institutions.

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Quelle surprise:

Days from becoming the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history, Lehman Brothers steered millions to departing executives even while pleading for a federal rescue, Congress was told Monday.

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Contagions always do.

It would be nice if the masters of the universe who brought all this upon the country paid dearly for it. Public humiliation would be nice; jail time for fraud even better. Unfortunately, Our Betters own the leadership of both political parties, and most of the Village. Still, a man can dream.... Read below the fold...

Krugman:

Barack Obama offers incremental reform: regulation of insurers to prevent discrimination against the less healthy, subsidies to help lower-income families buy insurance, and public insurance plans that compete with the private sector. His plan falls short of universal coverage, but it would sharply reduce the number of uninsured.

Mr. McCain, on the other hand, wants to blow up the current system, by eliminating the tax break for employer-provided insurance. And he doesn’t offer a workable alternative.

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Realtime Dow index quote: 9789.12 -536.26. Read below the fold...

Splendid:

Discussion forums abound with tales of woe from Gmail customers who have found themselves locked out of their accounts. They were innocent victims of security measures, which automatically suspend access if someone tries unsuccessfully to log on repeatedly to an account. ...

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Has anyone ever had a failed administration before actually winning the election? Read below the fold...

Survey Finds 'Bleak Picture' for World's Mammals.

"Mammals are definitely declining, and the driving factors are habitat destruction and over-harvesting," said Jan Schipper, the paper's lead author and the IUCN's global mammals assessment coordinator.

Yes, habitat destruction would be the housing crisis, and everything that drives it, including sprawl.

And over-harvesting would be toxic derivatives and debt servitude. Read below the fold...

Inspired by Susie:

Sachs says that, basically, we've got to wait 'til the next administration -- at which point, I imagine the $700 billion will be under the mattresses of our infestment bankers, and they'll be back for another round. Jeffrey Sachs in Scientific American; he's another "hold your nose and fix it later" guy: Read below the fold...

Don't you hate it when you ask someone a perfectly legitimate question and they refuse to dignify it? Especially about a topic of the gravest import?

Someone who does that should be the object of public derision, don't you think? Read below the fold...

msnbc.com headline: "Wall Street set to tumble after global sell-off"

Investors have come to the realization that the Bush administration’s $700 billion rescue plan won’t work quickly enough to unfreeze the credit markets, and that many banks are still having difficulties gaining access to cash.

On Friday, upon the signing of the Big Give, the Dow closed down -157.47.

What if we give them infinite dollars? Will it go down a little slower? Read below the fold...