Tag: Financial Meltdown
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McCain’s Town Hall "Advantage"
Before the debate, we heard a lot about how good McCain is in a town hall format. There wasn’t much evidence of that last night. Time’s Swampland does a good job of explaining why: In the classic McCain town hall, differences of opinion are expressed, and McCain works to build a conversation, so that everyone […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]