wallster

Is Government Part of the Problem or the Solution?

"OK. So -- the banking crisis is due to over - conservative accounting. Yes.

Not to leverage. Not to incompetence. Not to poor management structures. And not to just plain old bad business models. "

Of course. Haven't you been paying attention? If the big bad FASB hadn't been forcing banks to look at actual transaction prices when valuing their securities we never would have had this problem!

Hopefully Obama will pardon Andy Fastow soon, once he gets the banks up to speed on mark-to-model accounting, we can do away with those pesky market prices and it's prosperity here we come!

No Wonder the $700 Billion Bailout 'Deal' Failed

Terrible post. "Socialistic" best describes the bailout in general, where losses incurred by wealthy individuals will be shared with taxpayers. This is the bailout supported by Bush, McCain, and Paulson, as well as those you probably call socialists on a regular basis.

Would you advocate giving Paulson $700b and tell him to go nuts without any oversight? Sounds like you'd prefer that.

I agree that some of the housing preservation stuff is too vague, but

The "Worst Is Over" Crowd Is In for a Shock

Jason, the move may have helped the economy in 1990 but it didn't stave off recession. That is the point the author is trying to make, not that the move itself is useless.

The market had another 15% decline after August 1989.