cjct

The Shallowest Generation

On a micro-level I love my baby boomer parents, but on a macro-level I hate their generation!

The Bailout Plan Is Not a Cure-All But It Could Help

Well thought-out... I don't think anyone behind the TARP actually thinks this a panacea for all that ills the US economy, but that is not a legitimate reason not to pass it. At this point any measures that help ease the freeze in inter-bank lending, however incremental these benefits might be, should be supported. I hate the reasoning offered by some legislators as to why they won't vote for the plan, "It's not guaranteed to work"...NEWS FLASH CONGRESS...nothing in life is full proof... The American Revolution wasn't a guaranteed success, does that mean the founders shouldn't have supported it?

The U.S. Economy After the Bailout

You contradict yourself by predicting continued global economic weakness, but higher commodity prices. Doesn't seem to reason that with the demand destruction caused by weak economies that these consumerables could rise. And secondly currencies are a question of relatives, all that needs to happen for the USD to continue to rebound is for the US economy to be not as bad as Eurozone and East Asia. I think it's perfectly plausible that the US economy is 6 months earlier in this cycle and will come out of it before the rest of the world. That bodes well for the dollar in my estimation. In a flight to safety the dollar/treasuries will certainly benefit.

ROI, Paulson's Plan, and the Rise of Neo-Mercantilism

I might also add that if held to maturity, the government should stand to recoup all of its initial investment, plus a healthy profit. Given the government's low cost of borrowing and the distressed levels of most mortgage-backed assets, even with a high level of defaults within the underlying pool of mortgages, there exists and high probability that the government can turn a healthy profit for its willingess to lever-up during a period of mass-deleveraging.

ROI, Paulson's Plan, and the Rise of Neo-Mercantilism

While the internet is good for many things--the ability of the ill-informed to opine on a subject of such national importance is certianly not one of them...I would liken what will happen on Monday if the TARP has not found Congressional support to a credit cascade where one default leads to another and then to another and then to another. That Congress is actually wasting time asking Paulson and Bernanke whether "Wall Street executives should have to publicly apologize to the American people" is just one of many examples of the dearth of leadership that exists inside the Beltway...We are honestly staring into the abiss, one of the greatest crises in recent history and Senators and Congressmen want to play the blame game...truly a sad day for the Republic.