A government bailout of the housing market is both fiscally and morally irresponsible; it is an unfair subsidy being paid to the wealthy (bankers), the greedy (mortgage brokers, flippers, and yes some homeowners), and the incautious (some homeowners), with no benefit to those paying the bill (taypayers).
Why should responsible Americans be forced to pay for the mistakes of others?
April 1st we will be at #16 on the chart. In other words the end is about 4 years away.
based on the 4 monthly variables used by the NBER to determine U.S. recessions: non-farm payroll employment, the index of industrial production, real personal income excluding transfer payments, and real manufacturing and trade sales. 
great chart from Carpe Diem
"Under the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, the data show that the tax shares of the top 1% increased between 2000 and 2005 to historically high levels," ranking member Jim Saxton of the Joint Economic Committee said today. "Despite the contention that the tax cuts would unfairly reduce the tax burden of the rich, their share of taxes has in fact gone up," Saxton concluded.
According to figures filed with the Department of Education by each school, North Carolina's men's basketball program had revenue of $17.2 million during the 2006-07 school year, second only to the University of Louisville's $23.2 million among the 65 in this year's tournament. North Carolina's profit of $11.6 million is behind only Louisville's and Arizona's.
Here we see what appears to be minor damage done to the shipping container.
Here is the damage done to the mesh door of the grate. Notice the chip 3/4 across the bottom of the opening.
Here is the other chip and the damage to the draft door.
Here is the chip and the bent mesh door.There is a meme going around about the death of Bear Stearns (BSC). According to some people (mostly current and ex-employees) the collapse of the fifth largest investment bank in the US is the fault of many people, none of whom happen to be the management of Bear Stearns itself...
The bottom line is that Bear went under because of the poor judgment of their management: their aggressive risk taking, their positions in the mortgage back market, their apparent lack of risk controls, their leverage, lack of liquidity and reserves, and the enemies they made over the years. Sorry to be so blunt, but get real: It was nobody's fault but their own.
The Fed cut its short-term interest-rate target 0.75 percentage point to 2.25%, not the full point that markets had been expecting. It was the largest disappointment the Fed has delivered to markets since the central bank began cutting rates in September. the move was also a signal that because of the Fed's concerns about inflation, it expects its other initiatives to bear more of the burden of stimulating growth...Recognizing that, the Fed signaled in its end-of-meeting statement that the prospect of more rate cuts remains on the table. "The outlook...has weakened further," it said. "Consumer spending has slowed and labor markets have softened. Financial markets remain under considerable stress, and the tightening of credit conditions and the deepening of the housing contraction are likely to weigh on economic growth." It said "downside risks to growth remain," and the Fed will "act in a timely manner as needed."
Nonetheless, the Fed has increasingly come to the view that lower rates alone won't restore order to the financial markets and prevent a severe recession. It has rolled out ever more creative and aggressive attempts to infuse cash into market corners where it normally doesn't operate, culminating in Sunday's decision to lend to investment banks from its "discount window," a privilege previously reserved for commercial banks. Chairman Ben Bernanke also has publicly backed action to use public money to stem a tide of mortgage defaults and foreclosures.
Highlighting the depth of the Fed's inflation concerns, two of the 10 voting members of the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee voted against the 3/4-point cut. Charles Plosser and Richard Fisher, presidents of the Federal Reserve Banks of Philadelphia and Dallas, "preferred less aggressive action at this meeting," the Fed said.
from the WSJ
Crude currently trades around $110 a barrel, but breaking down the money in that barrel of oil is tough. Exploration and production costs, royalty payments - all a big part of $110 a barrel oil - vary widely country by country and project by project.
"It's difficult to generalize; there's a whole spectrum of costs," said Ron Planting, an economist with the American Petroleum Institute, an industry trade group.
They can range from $1 a barrel to produce crude in Saudi Arabia to over $70 a barrel to find, develop and pump oil in the deep water Gulf of Mexico or off the coast of Algeria, said Ann-Louise Hittle, an oil analyst with the energy consultants Wood Mackenzie.
EIA estimates it costs U.S. oil companies an average of about $24 a barrel to find, develop and produce oil worldwide, but that doesn't include costs like transportation, administration, or income taxes - which can be substantial. While Exxon made $40 billion in 2007, a 60% increase from 2004, it paid $100 billion in taxes and royalties.
Le Reve's 18-hole private golf course was added in 2005.
read the article
Stocks jumped Tuesday, with the Dow surging 420 points, its fourth-biggest one-day point gain ever, after the Federal Reserve cut the fed funds rate by three-quarters of a percentage point, surprising investors looking for a larger cut.The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) rose 420 points, its biggest one-day point gain since July 2002, for a gain of 3.5%. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 (SPX) index added over 54 points, its biggest one-day point gain since Jan. 2001, for a gain of 4.2%.
The tech-fueled Nasdaq composite (COMP) advanced over 91 points, its biggest one-day point gain since May 2002, for a gain of around 4.2%.
read the CNN story
"The Fed is supposed to make sure the entire economy, and not just the credit markets, run smoothly.
But Fed chairman Ben Bernanke risks fixing the credit crunch at the expense of inflation and the retirement accounts of many hard-working consumers that didn't go out and get some exotic adjustable-rate mortgage to buy a home that cost far more than they could afford."
Treasuries rose after the Federal Reserve cut its discount rate by a quarter-point and traders added to bets the central bank will reduce its target for overnight lending at a meeting tomorrow.from BloombergFutures contracts on the Chicago Board of Trade show a 52 percent chance the Fed will lower its 3 percent target to 2 percent. The odds of a reduction that large were zero last week. The rest of the bets are on a cut to 2.25 percent. Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke is increasing efforts to keep losses in credit markets from pushing the U.S. economy into a recession.
The Nikkei Index is down 514.61 @ 11:00 AM Japanese Time
Teetering on the brink of collapse from a lack of cash, New York-based Bear Stearns got emergency funding yesterday from the Federal Reserve and JPMorgan in the largest government bailout of a U.S. securities firm. The move failed to avert a crisis of confidence among Bear Stearns's customers and shareholders, who drove the stock down a record 47 percent.
After denying earlier this week that access to capital was at risk, Bear Stearns Chief Executive Officer Alan Schwartz said yesterday the company's cash position had ``significantly deteriorated'' in the past 24 hours. The Fed agreed to provide financing through JPMorgan for up to 28 days, the bank said in a statement yesterday...
The Fed is taking on the credit risk from collateral supplied by Bear Stearns, which approached the central bank for emergency funds, Fed staff officials said yesterday.
The Fed, under Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, voted unanimously to lend the funds through JPMorgan because it would be operationally simpler than a direct loan to Bear Stearns, the staff said on condition of anonymity. The regulator invoked a little-used law that allows it to make loans to corporations and private partnerships, which required a Board vote, according to the staffers.
The Fed said it was "monitoring market developments closely and will continue to provide liquidity as necessary to promote the orderly functioning of the financial system.''
from the WSJIn an extraordinary move, the Federal Reserve and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. stepped in to keep Bear afloat following a severe cash crunch.
The maneuver signaled that the Fed was trying to move aggressively to prevent Bear's crisis from spreading to the broader economy. But it seemed to do little to soothe fears. Bear's shares fell 47% to a nine-year low of $30 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading at 4 p.m. The Bear crisis, coming on the heels of this week's implosion of a publicly held affiliate of Carlyle Group, further rattled Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell nearly 195 points.
The lifeline gives Bear access to cash for an initial period of 28 days. J.P. Morgan will borrow the money from the Fed and relend it to Bear. Exact terms weren't disclosed, but the amount is limited only by how much collateral Bear can provide, Fed officials said.
The Fed, not J.P. Morgan, is bearing the risk of the loan. It is the first time since the Great Depression that the Fed has lent in this fashion to any entity other than a bank...
After initial relief, credit markets have taken a turn for the worse in recent weeks, breeding an every-man-for-himself attitude among Wall Street firms. With each firm intricately intertwined with others in a maze of loans, credit lines, derivatives and swaps, the Fed and Treasury agreed that letting Bear Stearns collapse quickly was a risk not worth taking, because the consequences were simply unknowable.
The U.S. Federal Reserve Sunday cut the Fed's discount rate by a quarter point to 3.25% and announced a new lending facility designed "to improve the ability of primary dealers to provide financing to participants in securitization markets."Ben Bernanke and the boys at the Fed are in full panic mode. Bear Stearns, a major investment bank on Wall Street, lost 47% value Friday and was purchased at $2/share Sunday. The Fed cuts rate 0.25%, ahead of a meeting on 3/18. People were predicting 0.50% to 0.75% cut. That will still happen. The dollar could see a major drop coupled with a huge increase in oil.The interest charged in this lending facility will be at the discount rate, according to a statement from the Fed. The discount rate cut means it will only be a quarter point over the fed-funds rate of 3%.
The Fed also is broadening the type of debt it will accept as collateral in the lending facility. The Fed said such loans can be collateralized by a broad range of investment-grade debt securities.
The Fed said it took the measures "to bolster market liquidity and promote orderly market functioning," according to a statement.
The facility will begin on Monday -- and the maximum period for such loans will be extended to 90 days from 30 days.
The Fed also said in its statement that it approved the recently-announced financing arrangement announced by J.P. Morgan and Bear Stearns Cos.
J.P. Morgan Chase agreed to buy Bear Stearns for $2 a share in a stock-swap transaction, people familiar with the matter say. J.P. Morgan will exchange 0.05473 shares of its common stock per one share of Bear Stearns stock. Both boards have approved the transaction.
Indeed, the Fed is taking the extraordinary step of providing special financing in connection with this transaction. The Fed has agreed to fund up to $30 billion of Bear Stearns' less liquid assets.
The deal values Bear Stearns at just $236 million, based on the number of Bear shares outstanding as of Feb. 16. At the end of Friday, Bear's stock-market value was about $3.54 billion.
great charts from the Skeptical Optimist
