The Madoff Bailout is starting to evolve beyond comedy.[1] Clearly the pressure to bail out the victims of the Madoff Ponzi will be irresistible,[2] but since the real deal has yet to surface Doomers will have to content themselves with conjecture and rumor for now.  This unconfirmed source [3] claims to have heard a definite figure for the down-payment through the grapevine: The real story is what’s going on over at the Treasury, Federal Reserve and Congress. This trio has already spent, “loaned” or committed 8.5 trillion dollars to the economic problems plaguing our country. It appears the carnival of…
Read more…

Canada’s market for asset-backed commercial paper remains just as illiquid as it was the day it seized up nearly 17 months ago but the lawyers and financial advisors trying to rescue it have already billed noteholders for nearly $200-million. [1] First off, don’t mess with their parents … Doomers should appreciate that those events of a couple of years ago were occurring a lazy afternoon’s drive from Plattsburgh New York, in a part of the world that supplies America’s Middle Atlantic States with much of their hydro-electricity, not to mention some really good jazz. Quebecers get into some different things…
Read more…

What happened to personal responsibility in investing?  It’s been bad enough that so many bailouts are being proposed for people who rolled the housing "dice" and lost. Now Robert Shiller, author of Irrational Exuberence is proposing assistance for homebuyers going forward as well.  Among his suggestions to "get out of this mess" he advocated: [Thanks L!] He’d like to see is subsidies for financial advice, so people aren’t making mistakes going to a mortgage broker to find out how much house they can afford. I have a more affordable suggestion.  Rather than subsidizing financial advice [Does that sound like it…
Read more…