All That Is Necessary

Month: September 2008

  • Ya Gotta Bereave

    For the second straight year the Mets are eliminated by the Marlins on the final day of the season, after leading the division late in September. I was hoping they would make the playoffs, but I didn’t have high hopes for them IN the playoffs, where pitching is even more important than in the regular […]

  • Bailout Wisdom from Various Sources

    Bill Whittle recently had a very painful medical mishap, which inspired him to refer to “the $700 billion kidney stone the economy is trying to pass.” He prescribes some therapeutic pain: Every decision we make is based on a risk/reward calculation. If we take away the consequences of risky behavior, we will see more of […]

  • Playing Politics by Suspending Campaign? Of Course.

    Is McCain’s call to suspend the campaign over the financial crisis an example of leadership? Is it a political ploy? Yes. Neo-neocon (I like her blog, but I LOVE her blog’s name) sums it up pretty well: Just because there is some political posturing does not mean there’s not also some sincerity. Each candidate is […]

  • Isn’t Marking to Market Supposed to be a Good Thing?

    OK, I’m trying to get my head wrapped around this whole market meltdown thing. One of the things that has puzzled me is seeing complaints that some of the various bailouts have been triggered in part by regulations that force companies to mark mortgage-backed securities to market — that is, to account for changes in […]

  • Some Perspective (or Maybe, Rose-Colored Glasses)

    Today’s Wall Street Journal informs me that Wall Street as we knew it has ceased to exist. That bums me out. I used to make quite a decent living as a corporate gumby on Wall Street, and Wall Street firms have been among my most important clients as a communications consultant. Oh well. I expect […]

  • Gay Republicans Make Their Peace With Palin

    This article is a response to gay friends who have taken issue, quite civilly, with my support of John McCain for President. (Disclaimer: there is a comment on the article from someone named “Kirk,” who is not me.) While John McCain’s “selection of the Alaska governor has energized the GOP’s socially conservative wing,” it has […]

  • Bullish on (Bank of) America

    So Merrill Lynch, where I toiled for 12 years, faces the end of nearly a century as a private company. At least it’s not like Lehman, an even-older company that was forced into bankruptcy when nobody would assume its liabilities. One of my earliest memories of working at Merrill Lynch is hearing CEO William A. […]

  • McCain Rides the Palin Tide, Part II

    For the first time since I’ve been watching it, the electoral-vote.com map is showing a McCain victory, by the narrowest of margins. I put the EV map in my sidebar with the thought that it makes more sense to count the votes the way the election will be decided — 50 state votes rather than […]

  • McCain Rides the Palin Tide

    For the first time since Obama effectively clinched the Democratic nomination in February, the pay-to-play Intrade prediction market is narrowly predicting a McCain victory.

  • Never Forget

    Some day soon I need to write more extensively about the name of this blog. It comes from something that English statesman Edmund Burke apparently did not actually say, so I’ve felt free to modernize the language: “All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing.” Regardless of who […]