The business times quotes an anonymous “senior London Banker†Someone will go under in this crisis, that’s for sure. The question is whether they stay under or get rescued. Let’s see whether this latest round of stabilisation helps, but if it doesn’t, it’s difficult to see what Plan B is. The Fed can’t just keep on printing money. Yes, the Fed can just keep on printing money. The banks have …
Fed blows three hundred billion in one day.
Yesterday, the fed, in an effort to restore liquidity, “loaned†the banks three hundred billion dollars with mortgage backed securities as “securityâ€. Because these securities are not worth @#$% it in fact purchased these securities. And because the mortgages backing these securities are not worth @#$% it in fact purchased the mortgages. And because the mortgages are for more than the value of the properties, it in fact purchased the …
Which is irrational, the Fed or the market?
The economist is puzzled that the very rational Fed is having such difficulty bringing rationality to those terribly irrational markets: the more frightening tremors in the system are those generated by the seemingly irrational unwillingness to hold safe investments, thereby making the safe unsafe. And to cure this terrible irrationality, the Fed is injecting liquidity buying dud mortgages. Hang on. Dud mortgates are not safe investments. They are extremely speculative …
Global warmers lie again 1
According to a statement issued by the World Wide Fund for nature a few hours ago: “Hundreds of newborn seal cubs risk dying of hunger and cold because global warming is making ice in the Arctic Circle melt too fast“When the ice melts too fast, the cubs end up in the ice water before they have their insulating fat layer, and they die painfully of hunger and cold. “The WWF …
Cause of International Inequality
Arnold Kling is much puzzled by the inequality of nations. I don’t know why. The answer is pretty obvious. Firstly, you require capitalism, which requires not mere formal laws recognizing private property, but a culture of respect for entrepreneurship, for property rights in productive capital and freedom to do business. With that respect, the laws are unnecessary, as in today’s China. Without that respect, the laws are useless, as in …
Measuring global warming
The simple and obvious way to measure global warming is to look at results from weather stations. Unfortunately results from weather stations are subject to large systematic errors: Weather stations are generally located in or near cities, and near human habitation. Cities are typically several degrees warmer than the surrounding countryside, and have been expanding. Steve McIntyre has been examining how weather stations have been used to construct an estimate …
commodity money
The subprime crisis represents massive unpunished malfeasance by financial intermediaries managing US dollars. This discourages people from using US dollars as money. In 2008 January, the fed drove real dollar interest rates negative – only slightly negative, but negative interest rates suggest an intent to inflate away the dollar denominated liabilities of financial intermediaries until the real assets cover the dollar denominated liabilities. In the ensuing two months, all commodities …
Stop the @#$%^&* whining!
Yair Lapid self pityingly whines “why do they hate us?â€, “us†being in this case the Jews, though it could equally well be any group that is economically successful and reluctant to murder innocents. What a maroon! It is same reason as they hate everyone, only more so. Just look at everyone else who gets hated then murdered. The most recent event was in Kenya, where a party won the …