[oops! shouldn't have tried to update the title with low memory apologies for making this disappear earlier] Mr. Gary Moore of Calgary AB (it’s even better he’s from Western Canada) has done a fine job of presenting the case for why Canada’s present Prime Minister should do the statesman-like thing and step aside for the Coalition.  Even Harper’s best neo-con buddies are now frantically signaling for him to back off.[2] I don’t ordinarily post a whole MSM piece, but this letter-to-the-editor deserves wide distribution.  Please consider clicking on one of the title links and visiting the original source (and their…
Read more…

Yeah I know we’ve put up a number of Peter Schiff videos, but I came across the compilation of "Schiff Analogies" and decided that I had to post it:

Does it seem to you like there is no carefully thought out plan with all these bailouts?  You’re not alone: [Thanks L!] The head of a new Congressional panel set up to monitor the gigantic federal bailout says the government still does not seem to have a coherent strategy for easing the financial crisis, despite the billions it has already spent in that effort. Elizabeth Warren, the chairwoman of the oversight panel, said in an interview Monday that the government instead seemed to be lurching from one tactic to the next without clarifying how each step fits into an overall…
Read more…

Here is Housing Doom’s fifth installment of our unauthorized annotated transcript of the American Enterprise Institute’s October 30, 2008 seminar "The Deflating Mortgage and Housing Bubble, Part IV: Where Is the Bottom?" [1] This is the presentation by Chris Whalen. He makes use of a slide deck.[2] Here is the official transcript. There is a video and an audio-only recording of the event at the event site. Highlights "I mean, imagine we are in the kitchen with a big knife and we were just chopping fingers off one after the other and laughing about it. That’s what fair value accounting…
Read more…

Calculated Risk has the link to this NYT story.[1] The blogger Tanta, an influential voice on the mortgage collapse, died Sunday morning in Columbus, Ohio. Tanta, who wrote for Calculated Risk, a finance and economics blog, was a pseudonym for Doris Dungey, 47, who until recently had lived in Upper Marlboro, Md. The cause of death was ovarian cancer, her sister, Cathy Stickelmaier, said. Thanks in large part to Tanta’s contributions, Calculated Risk became a crucial source of prescient analysis as the housing market at first faltered, then collapsed and finally spawned a full-blown credit crisis.   CR himself posted…
Read more…

One of the mantras we keep hearing about the credit crisis is "Who could have known?"  Who SHOULD have known is the current administration: The Bush administration ignored early warnings about the potential of the collapse of the banking system. That’s the finding of The Associated Press’ review of regulatory documents it has obtained. If true, then it nullifies, at least in part, some of the explanation — and blame — that has been a part of the dialogue since the Wall Street market began its meltdown. As early as January 2006, according to records, several mortgage experts, including California…
Read more…

Bill’s latest didn’t need much editing beyond searching out some of the implied links. I omitted the family-related news at the very end, so if you’re a Maloni insider you’ll want to check out the original. This did end up being a bit of a derivative work.  Bill, could you at least stick the links in next time? He’s being surprisingly hard on his own (and traditionally GSE-supportive) Democratic Party. On the other hand, four solid years of unwavering support might have gotten a bit dull "Let Me At Those Banks" by Bill Maloni It looks like this will be…
Read more…

"River …" "I know. We’re going for a ride." Looks like this week my country’s going to be in the hands of this 52 year old Haitian immigrant (picture credit at the Wikipedia link) … … who also happens to be the Dominion’s ceremonial Head of State.   UPDATE: Wow!  This picture says it all (credit to CP in the story that follows) "Dion to lead Liberal-NDP coalition, Liberals confirm — PM: Dion ‘playing biggest political game in Canadian history’ ", CBC, December 1, 2008. [that's 150 incoming links from the Mother Corp and counting -- thanks guys!] Ignatieff, who…
Read more…