AIG makes me angry too

Mar 4, 2009
The more I read and think about AIG, the closer I get to having a conniption. Even Bernanke said it yesterday: nothing makes him angrier than the...

Drive 'em into the ground

Mar 3, 2009
The latest car sales numbers just came in, and they truly are bad enough to make a grown man cry. GM and Ford sales fell by half in February. At...

Dracula, the insurance company

Mar 3, 2009
I felt like I was watching a bad horror movie this morning as Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke testified before Congress. Bernanke said the government...

Greed and blindness

Mar 3, 2009
There's an ugly, human thread that runs through all of the collapses and fraud on Wall Street. Two items I read this morning point it out clearly....

Burning down the house

Mar 2, 2009
Q: What happens to money when you throw it into a fire? A: The same thing that happens when you give it to AIG. Today's 4th bailout of the...

If it quacks like a duck...

Feb 27, 2009
At this economic bloggers conference I'm attending, we had a discussion last night about how no one in charge will say the word "nationalization." ...

Airplane Reading

Feb 26, 2009
I read some interesting stuff on my flight to Kansas City, which I'll get to in a moment. But first, my flight. I don't fly Southwest often, but...

For public good, not for profit.

Just take your clients to Putt-Putt

Feb 25, 2009
Now that Northern Bank's been busted for hosting a golf tournament, the other bank lemmings are lining up to do their part. Today, Morgan Stanley...

Will there be blood?

Feb 25, 2009
I just read a very compelling interview with respected Harvard historian Niall Ferguson. Here's the interview by the Toronto Globe and Mail, and...

Hamsters with loans

Feb 24, 2009
There's a lot of wheel-spinning when it comes to restructured loans. A bank regulator testified to Congress today that more than half of modified...