define('DISALLOW_FILE_EDIT', true); define('DISALLOW_FILE_MODS', true); No Runny Eggs

No Runny Eggs

The repository of one hard-boiled egg from the south suburbs of Milwaukee, Wisconsin (and the occassional guest-blogger). The ramblings within may or may not offend, shock and awe you, but they are what I (or my guest-bloggers) think.

October 3, 2008

The Morning Scramble – The Glorious And Late Return – 10/3/2008

by @ 13:59. Filed under The Morning Scramble.

It’s been far too long since I did a Scramble. In fact, length was and is the problem; it was taking me way too long to put together near the end of the daily run, and despite the suggestion from Fausta that I do a side dish, this family-sized one once again stretched way too long (hey, I’m part of a big family). Oh well, let’s celebrate with Metallica…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5wms7k0Wh4[/youtube]

Oh, heck with it; we need some hair of the dog as well (thanks, Alexander, though since Bailout 2.0 – Now With Extra Liberalism And Pork passed, I’ll take that whiskey straight from the still).

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2O4H9vs_hYI[/youtube]

I don’t care how big this is; I’m not splitting it in two.

  • Before we get to the brass tacks, Sister Toldjah and Ed Morrissey are celebrating their 5-year blogiversaries.
  • Executive decision; I’m not going to do too much on last night’s debate. I could be here all day just on that. Instead, I’ll send you to Gabriel Malor’s recap (note; Gabe is a certified AoSHQ Moron, so the language may be a bit rough, especially in the comments, where the cobbled-together system Ace uses makes gobbledygook of the table).
  • E.M. Zanotti has the react of the night from her inbox – "Sarah Palin field dressed Biden like a botoxed moose." Something tells me that’s going to be in the next MRQ over at Real Debate Wisconsin.
  • If you missed the debate, C-SPAN has the full video (H/T – John McCormack. Because I can, I’ll put it in here as well.

  • Jim Geraghty and friends filleted Joementum Version 2.0.
  • Cindy found a disturbing gesture from Joe Biden at the end of the debate. That would be at the 1:32 mark in the C-SPAN video.
  • Ed Morrissey found Biden’s knowledge of the Constitution sorely lacking.
  • Marc Sheppard explains the crap sandwich with yellow-but-not-Dew drink that came out of the Senate. Let’s see, take one stalled step toward socialized medicine, graft the bailout on it, throw in a heap of “targeted tax cuts” (pork me), sprinkle a bunch of greenery (and anti-oil production), and then shove the annual AMT “fix” and Hurricane Ike relief in to get a few conservatives on board this liberal “Holiday” tree and get the rest to vote “for” a de facto tax increase and “against” the sheeple, and you got the socialism that passed while I was typing this out.
  • How much pork? Paul Socha found it to be hundreds of billions in pork.
  • Dad29 explains why mark-to-market is a bad idea that’s making the bad loans truly toxic. Hint; look at LIBOR.
  • Darleen Click pictures why we have those bad loans. Bonnie and Clyde didn’t have federale badges like Fannie and Freddie though.
  • Bill Quick wonders how a Communist got so rich. Little-known fact, LIBOR was originally a construct of Vladmir Lenin.
  • John Washburn has an alternative plan. Of course, the Credit Generation will hate it because they won’t be encouraged to live beyond their means.
  • Michelle Bachmann has another alternative plan that Paul Ryan should have worked with instead of going with the crap sandwich.
  • Stephen Green explains why the crap sandwich won’t work; INFLATION!
  • Marcus Aurelius explains Supply and Demand 201.
  • The Pheisty Joey had some fun with an ObamiNation volunteer.
  • Uncle Jimbo caught Barack Obama doing everything but voting a lot of the time. Since I already did “School’s Out”, and you’re probably out of music by now, let’s do some Motley Crue.

    [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYhGi65Lijg[/youtube]

  • Michelle Malkin is all over the fraud being perpetrated on behalf of Obama in Ohio.
  • Jim Hoft reports Obama is bringing in the big guns to take full advantage over at O(verrated)SU while the football team is busy getting crushed at Camp Randall.
  • Bonus Malkin – she reports that Obama bought himself a brainwashing channel on Dish.
  • How did he pay for that channel? Rick Moran wonders if it’s foreign cash. Unfortunately, we won’t know because the FEC won’t look into it.
  • It goes oh-so-well with brainwashing. James Wigderson has the second video, along with a bonus Blue-Out day targeted at the young skulls full of mush.
  • Bonus Uncle Jimbo – he has the Pyongyang Remix of the first video.
  • Dad29 proves that Obama is a typical Chicago Machine pol.
  • Flip notes that Obama is so liberal, even his poker buddies, specifically one whose Will County executive office was searched by the FBI in connection with a fraud investigation involving Will County and federal grants, say he’s too liberal.
  • Blue Collar Muse exposes a couple more of Obama’s friends profiting handsomely at the expense of taxpayers with housing units so substandard, they were deemed uninhabitable.
  • That and the Ohio fraud aren’t surprising, considering Jeff G. asserts Obama is ACORN’s Senator.
  • PJ-Comix laughs at the DUmmies who fear (hopefully correctly) that Obama has peaked too soon.
  • Matt Wolking contrasts Obama’s call for hearings on the mortgage crisis to John McCain’s attempt to act on that back before we got the crap sandwich with yellow-but-not-Dew drink.
  • Brian is very glum over the inability of McCain to make the reality of his separation from President Bush perception. You care to guess which exact Google search term gets more results – “Bush-McCain” or “Clinton-Gore”? Gore was Clinton’s VP, for crying out loud, and McCain was and is a significant rival of Bush.
  • Jim Hoft reports one of McCain’s Missouri offices suffered a break-in, with a laptop stolen. I’m sure Missouri’s law enforcement community will be all over that…wait, they’re too busy being Obama’s Toofer Squad.
  • Ed Morrissey reports the longest R drought (at least among the 50 states) just might end. Guess Wisconsin will finally be number one (excuse me while I hurl).
  • Warner Todd Huston reports McCain finally caught on to the fact the New York Times was just using him and left their pet columnist on the tarmac. Nice.
  • JammieWearingFool points out a massive conflict of interest, Fannie Edition, over at the Now Barack’s Channel network.
  • Steve T proves words are everything for presstitutes.
  • Speaking of words, Mary caught The News Organization That Cannot Be Quoted™ loading up the word cannon on McCain.
  • Michelle Malkin found the Boston Globe literally in the bag for Obama.
  • If you were wondering how far is too far, JammieWearingFool found the line at wearing an Obama shirt while covering an Obama rally as a presstitute.
  • Coop has the understatement of the week, courtesy MSNBC.
  • David Limbaugh explains bias.
  • Alexander found the inner workings of Congress eerily like a Three Stooges short.
  • Lawhawk caught New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I) saying, “Term limits? Now that I used term limits to worm my way into office, I don’t need no stinking term limits.”
  • Jim Lynch proves it’s all about the name. No word on whether the candidate formerly known as Joe Biden will start shaving his legs.
  • Dan Kenitz lists the eight biggest dummies in politics.
  • Tom McMahon 4-blocks the ‘Rat half of the bipartisan Party-In-Government’s view of the law. Honestly, except for the lower-left portion, we could apply it to the Pubbie half as well.
  • J. Gravelle illustrates (literally) how a 100% increase becomes a 90% “decrease” in government math.
  • Fred rolls video of typical ‘Rat voters explaining why they’re voting for the more-socialist half of the bipartisan Party-In-Government.
  • Kate pictures the Most (Un)ethical Congress Evah! Since they didn’t quite get around to banning certain familial payoffs, they’re more than happy to make said payoffs.
  • The Headless Blogger explains why students from out of state should not be voting in Wisconsin. Of course, since they tend to vote for the ‘Rats, it’s encouraged by the state in blatant violation of state law.
  • Speaking of violating state election law, Dad29 caught the Milwaukee Election Commission allowing ACORN to hire at least 7 felons as voter registration workers. Can we check the registrations they submitted now, or is the Doyle-controlled Government “Accountability” Board THAT FAR in the tank for their fellow ‘Rats?
  • Jeff Dufour and Patrick Gavin find that watching debates while drunk is a time-honored DC tradition. I’m sure Stephen Green would like a royalty check for taking the idea (I’ll send mine once the DC bars send theirs).

    Off-topic, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the inaugural Drinking Right-DC Edition is the same night as the 2nd Presidential Debate. I’ll be drunkgrogging instead of drunkblogging that night, but Shoebox or one of the guest bloggers are welcome to set up shop.

  • Michelle Malkin has the next entity waiting in line for a bailout – the state of California.
  • Lance Burri says that kangaroos are on the menu because of Gorebal “Warming”.
  • Patrick McIlheran wants to be like the Swedes, at least when it comes to education. That’s right, the Swedes. It seems that competition in education works.
  • Michael Yon explains the situation in Afghanistan.
  • John explains the “Military Support to the Civil Authority” mission. Nick, you might want to pay attention.
  • I can’t finish without some good news – Matt Burden reports Marines are still Marines.
  • I also can’t finish without some goofiness – thankfully Jimi found a wicked-good ad for Miller Genuine Draft.

Guess I need to close with a song because I don’t know when I’ll do one of these again. It is barely morning on the left coast. I simply have too many good blogs to keep on doing this (267 feeds in the bloated reader at last count), so I dedicate this trip to the future past to the Soviets…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-2LQGigK-0[/youtube]

The Debate Results?

by @ 5:02. Filed under Politics - National.

October 2, 2008

Cool down the alcohol; it’s another drunkblog of the VP debate

by @ 14:15. Filed under Politics - National.

The expectations are very low, so let the alcohol flow. The fun will start about 7:45 pm, assuming I’m awake that is.

If I’m here, and I remember to actually blog the thing (heh), the questions will be in italics, the answers in normal type, and my comments in-line with a question or answer in parentheses. Since this is a drunkblog, the etiquette lamp is out.

At least I would be drunkblogging with CiL if it were up. Instead, we’re doing it the old-fashioned way below the window.

We’re more-or-less back, though CiL is at capacity. Sorry about that.

20:05 – Biden praising socialism, Palin reminding us McCain was pushing reform 2 years ago.

20:22 – My bull-fucking-shit meter is pegged on Biden.

20:24 – Palin – I fought “Big Oil” while Obama voted for them?

So you’re not taking anything off the table? Palin – Oh Hell No!

20:25 – Biden – Obama voted for the alternative fuel while he wanted to screw Big Oil (and keep us dependent on your friends the Mad Mullahs, Plugs?).

20:26 – Would you have supported tightening up bankruptcy rules? Palin – Yes, but things have changed. It’s a toxic mess on Main Street that’s affecting Wall Street.

20:28 – To Biden – We need to let bankruptcy courts screw the lenders (fuck that shit).

20:30 – Palin – Energy independence is the key to our future. It’s not about who is getting a tax break.

What about Gorebal “Warming”? – Palin – I’m in the only Arctic state, but it’s not just man.

20:31 – Palin – An “all of the above” approach also helps other countries keep the environment clean.

To Plugs – It’s EVIL AMERICAN CONSERVATIVES’ FAULT! (FUCK YOU!)

20:33 – If you hit refresh, the CiL SHOULD be working.

Chicken %*$&!!!

by @ 5:42. Filed under Economy.

In a move that will only cause more confusion in this chaotic time, the SEC provided “clarification” today on how to apply mark to market valuations. In their “clarification” the SEC now says:

reminded financial services firms that they don’t need to use fire sale prices when evaluating their hard to price assets.

OK, but what if the only sales currently, and that have for a while, are only fire sales? Then what do you do?

Further in the Reuters article is the quote that sums up my impression of the SEC’s “clarification.”

“This letter (SEC document) could be titled, pick a number, any number, as it gives bankers great leeway in choosing what numbers they will give to investors,” said Lynn Turner, who served as chief accountant at the SEC from 1998 through 2001.

While “picking any number” will allow you to finish your quarterly financial statements it has some huge negative potential; jail time.

Following the Enron debacle, Congress decided they were going to ensure that accounting standards were so tight that no one could “game the system.” Their fix was called Sarbanes/Oxley. Sarbanes, as it is generally referred to, did many things to tighten accounting rules. It also significantly increased accountability for management. Sarbanes has criminal penalties i.e. jail time for company executives who falsify financial statements.

Under normal circumstances, estimates provided by industry experts i.e. company executives, would be acceptable and pass without comment. However, in the current, hypersensitive environment, “estimates” are easy targets for overly ambitious prosecutors who are working in a situation where everyone is looking for someone to blame.

The SEC’s “clarification” didn’t clarify anything. If anything, it muddied the standard even further. The SEC should suspend mark to market for these specific asset classes. Only by setting the requirement aside or by providing indemnification for good faith efforts, will these companies find any relief from the mark to market requirement.

A couple of weeks back, as the current crisis unfolded, John McCain called for the firing of the SEC chairman Chris Cox. At the time, many people scoffed at McCain saying that he was reaching and over reacting. Based on this latest cluelessness on the practical implications of his own decisions, I agree with McCain! It’s time for Cox to go.

Just to make you feel really good, Cox is one of the four people outlined in the bailout (yes, it’s back to that with the extra crap that got thrown in) bill who is to oversee how the $700B is spent!

We’re in soooooo much trouble!

October 1, 2008

World Encouragement for US Socialism

by @ 10:55. Filed under Miscellaneous.

In a NewsMax article today this headline:

Billionaire Slim: Buy Stakes in Failing Banks

Carlos Slim is a Mexican Billionaire.   In the article he is reported to say that the approach of buying and reselling assets is wrong.   Rather, he says, the US government should buy the banks themselves.   In essence he calls for the nationalization of much of the US banking system:

But Slim said buying those debts would be complicated, because the government would then have to manage and resell them. He said it would be better for the government to assume majority ownership of the institutions, giving them more capital for restructuring and recovery.

What else would you expect from someone who talks capitalism out of one side of his mouth but has made his fortune in the corrupt, monopoly granting country that is Mexico?   Next to Nancy Pelosi, I can think of no one who’s perspective I would trust less on issues of capitalism than someone who has made their fortune from acquiring and leveraging monopolies!

What’s next?   Should we start taking advice on what our Constitution means from law makers in Europe?

Obamamania Sweeps the Nation

by @ 8:37. Filed under Miscellaneous.

First it was the video of the kids singing adulation and praise to Hope and Change and “The One.”
Now, we’ve got Al Davis, owner of the Oakland Raiders channeling “The One!”

In discussing his firing of a fourth head coach in five years, Davis said:

“He’s not the guy I hired.”

I didn’t know that Jeremiah Wright had ever had a head coaching position!

Workout 2.0

by @ 5:36. Filed under Politics - National.

The bill previously referred to as “The Bailout” but appropriately classified as a “workout” (I’ll explain more later) looks to be heading for another vote.   While the timing is still to be determined, some sources are suggesting that the Senate may vote first and do so as early as Wednesday evening.

Folks have been working to figure out what adjustments need to be made to pick up the additional 12 votes that the first vote lost by.   While there were rumors, and frankly I thought the likely path, that SanFranNan was going to load up more socialism into the bill to get her more liberal folks on board, it now looks like there are a combination of items that are being considered.

Included in the “let’s get more libs on board” are these items:   my comments in italics

  1. Banning some forms of short selling – I’d have to see more details but I can’t imagine a situation that I would support long term.   We have seen in the current short selling curb, numerous examples where the removal of short selling has actually hurt the price of the stock.   How can that be?   Turns out that folks who buy long on companies use short selling to help protect themselves from unexpected down turns in the stock.   If they can’t protect their downside, especially in situations of high volatility, they won’t play on the long side.
  2. Extending Unemployment Benefits – No and hell no!   This is the kind of stuff that would allow the Republicans to sit out another vote.   This bill needs to stay focused on restarting the credit markets.   This issue does nothing in that area!
  3. Double the Property Tax Deduction for People Who do not Itemize Deductions – Again, no and hell no for the same reasons as #2
  4. More Spending on Transportation and Infrastructure – Ditto 2 and 3.   The argument is that this is putting money into the economy.   If Paulson is right, there is no money needed in the economy.   In fact, Billions of dollars have already been pumped into the economy.   We don’t need the Govt. borrowing more especially when we don’t know where the next fire is that we may need to fight.

Other ideas being proposed:

  1. Increase FDIC insurance to $250K for each depositor – OK, sleeves out of your vest on this one.   It may provide some help in stemming runs on banks but I don’t know that it addresses the credit issues.   My understanding is that during the RTC days, and even today, FDIC uses some pretty broad authorities to determine the amount that actually gets covered by each depositor.   I believe many depositors with balances over the current $100K mark, were fully covered by the FDIC.
  2. Remove/Adjust Mark to Market requirements – As I understand it, the SEC could do this on their own.   In fact, there are rumors that they may do that even if not in the bill.   This absolutely needs to happen.   Mark to Market  works when their are fluid markets for the assets you are valuing.   When the market become illiquid or worse, functions essentially as multiple fire sales, mark to market can actually mis price assets.   Many people will debate  the level, or if mark to market has impacted our current financial situation.   Trust me, Mark to Market has not caused this mess but it has surely exacerbated and accelerated  the deterioration of balance sheets.

Where does that leave us?   it looks like for the most part, the bill will come back as it was on Monday.   I don’t expect any changes that do more than allow some group of Representatives to change their minds.   After rereading Monday’s bill again, my biggest concerns remain that Paulson can buy assets from pensions and (and I just picked this up in my last rereading) no where in the bill do I see that he must specifically buy only the mortgage backed securities.  

In short,  this bill  leaves me feeling like the guy who has a bomb ticking down from :30 and he needs to decide which of 50 wires to cut.   I know we have to cut a wire.   If we’re right, we live.   If we’re wrong, well, stay tuned for tomorrow’s show!

Postlude:   I referred to this as a “workout” earlier.   This bill has been badly sold…that is if it is as many are selling it i.e. a situation where Paulson will buy assets, hold them for a while and place them in the hands of a healthier institution later, hopefully without a loss.   If the program works as that, this looks much more like a typical financial system workout i.e. at the end of the day we get our money although we may have to adjust the terms or payment amounts along the way.   If this really is a “workout” (as I believe it is intended to be) than Paulson and others should be making that point and selling it as such.   If it is a bailout, buyer be ware!

September 30, 2008

Drill Here, Drill Now Tuesdays – 9/30/2008

by @ 19:35. Filed under Energy.

This idea was started by Jessi at Wake Up America. It will appear here every Tuesday (whether I’m here or not; the only difference is I won’t be able to update the current gas price while on vacation) until Congress wakes up and allows a lot more domestic drilling (I’m not talking about just ANWR, or just off the Florida coast where Cuba, Red China and Brazil are preparing to drink our milkshake, or just the shale fields in the Rockies).

My Gas Price (south suburban Milwaukee County, Wisconsin): $3.539/gallon

This one is going up a bit late today, but we are within a few hours of seeing the Congressional ban on offshore drilling expire. I’ll be blunt; I want next week’s update to include news that offshore drilling leases are being negotiated and signed.

Offshore drilling is now in the hands of the oil companies and the Bush administration. I don’t want excuses; I want action, especially since this window of opportunity may be very short.

This, however, is only the beginning. There’s the matter of ANWR and oil shale out West that’s been locked up. While it’s not specifically oil-related, there’s also a lot of clean coal that’s been locked up. That needs to be opened up as well. The clock is ticking, and this has to happen.

CALM RETURNS

by @ 16:24. Filed under Miscellaneous.

That’s the banner headline on Drudge.com


CALM RETURNS

 

Are you kidding me?   -777 one day, + 485 the next!   That’s Drudge’s definition of calm?  

I’d hate to see his version of Panic!

Be Careful What You Wish For

by @ 15:53. Filed under Politics - National.

If you think that representation from San Francisco could not get any more leftist than San Fran Nan, take a look at this video of Cindy Sheehan’s discussion of her economic platform.

Gurgle, Gurgle, Gurgle!

Right Wing News poll on the bailout

by @ 8:45. Filed under Business, Politics - National.

John Hawkins did another of his world-famous Right Wing News polls, this one on the bailout. My answers are below, with the note that I sent this in before the market cratered.

1) Is the PRIMARY cause of this crisis…

A) Deregulation, market forces, and Wall Street?
B) Government interference in the market?

B – Government interference in the market (specifically, the Clinton-mandated supersizing of the subprime mortgage market)

2) Do you support the bailout?

A) Yes
B) No

B – No (only because my prefered answer of an expletive preceding the two-letter answer isn’t here)

3) Politically, is it smarter for Republicans in Congress to support or oppose the bailout?

A) Support
B) Oppose

B – Oppose (I will throw the caveat that they need to explain that this is Socialism-Heavy)

4) If John McCain signs on to the bailout, does it help or hurt his chances of getting elected?

A) Help
B) Hurt

B – Hurt (he’s not going to get the Socialists that are happiest with this bill)

I thought Shoebox was on John’s e-mail list, but I don’t seem to see him listed among those who sent in responses.

What now?

by @ 8:28. Filed under Business, Politics - National.

Shoebox already took the non-Pulp Fiction version of this question, and I do recommend you read it. I may as well throw in my 2-cents’ worth.

I firmly believe that the Democrats do want the market to crater itself for their political benefit. Unlike Shoebox, I think they’ll be successful in conning the public into believing that they are not at fault, and that one-party Socialism (formerly known as Communism) is the “answer”. After all, where else but this end of the blogosphere and talk radio (and portions of Fox News) are you going to hear about the massive role the hyper-enforcement of the Community Reinvestment Act, ordered by Bill Clinton and the Democrats, had in creating the supersized-and-crashed subprime market? Where else are you going to hear that a sufficient number of Democrats on Barney Frank’s committee voted against it to kill it?

That is not to say that the financial sector didn’t have their own hand in this. They took that mandate and ran very hard with it, with ridiculously-easy-to-get very-low-to-no-interest loans on items such as cars and credit cards. They also joined the “don’t blame me” generation, demanding that others cover their losses or else VERY BAD THINGS WILL HAPPEN! Unfortunately for us, they are virtually unique in the private sector in their ability to cause those bad things to happen, and yesterday’s historic market crash and the complete lockup of institutional credit outlined by Shoebox are but a taste of what they can cause to happen if they don’t get their way.

Still, I am glad the “grand compromise” was killed yesterday. It combined both Socialist approaches of buying up the “distressed” paper and seizing effective control of the financial sector (i.e. the Fannie/Freddie/AIG approach that failed spectacularily with those 3 entities) with almost no actual upside for those few of us that still believe in the free market. Indeed, almost everything that was sold as an “upside” merely stripped out the further overreach from the Dems’ counterproposal.

There was no addressing the government’s role in creating the subprime bubble. There was no assurance that the assets bought/seized by the government would ever be turned back over to the private sector. Indeed, if the government refused to turn a sufficient number of assets back to the private sector to pay back the $700 billion (or whatever they ultimately would have spent), they would act to make it a non-paid seizure.

So, what now? If I thought this had a snowball’s chance in Hell of flying, I’d go back to the Paulson proposal, get the decision on which securities to buy up out of the Treasury (Shoebox mentioned Mitt Romney, Asian Badger mentioned Michael Bloomberg, T. Boone Pickens mentioned the FDIC this morning on CNBC), and make it very clear that “RTC 2.0” was a temporary, one-time solution that is focused on reintegrating those securities into the private sector ASAP. Further, I would repeal the Community Reinvestment Act. Beyond the modified Paulson plan and the elimination of the CRA, nothing, and I mean NOTHING, would be a part of this. No death to golden parachutes, no tax cuts, no giveaways to ACORN, no earmarks, NOTHING!

Of course, the Democrats won’t like that; they want Communis…er, one-party Socialis,…er, screw it, Communism. Unless there is something even worse, from a free market point of view, that comes up, I don’t see any action until the next Congress. I honestly don’t know if the markets can or will hold on for another quarter, and if that crash happens in the next month, 2008 will make 2006 look like a major win.

In short, we’re fucked.

Bush Pushes Rescue Plan 3.0 – Live Thread

by @ 7:25. Filed under Miscellaneous.

I’m still working up my answer to, “What now?”, but since President Bush will be speaking inside of 15 minutes, I may not have it up before then. Since I’m up, I may as well push out an snap live thread.

So, Now What?

by @ 5:41. Filed under Politics - National.

In a close vote, 205 – 228, the “bailout” bill was defeated.   Bush, Paulson, Pelosi and everyone else who was interviewed after the vote, still say we are in a crisis.   I guess the natural question is:   Now What?

First, let’s take a quick look at how the bill was defeated.

The defeat began with Nancy Pelosi giving one of the more partisan speeches I can remember hearing given by a Speaker in a situation where the Speaker knew the vote was close and really wanted the bill to pass.   Rather than fight for a common purpose, Nancy took her 2 minutes to point fingers at every Republican ever elected.   You really need to see it to believe just how insultingly partisan her comments were:

After experiencing Pelosi’s petulance and seeing that the Dem’s were only able to get 60% of their caucus to support the bill, I’m inclined to agree with Soren Dayton over at RedState.com. I too believe that Pelosi intended this bill to fail so that she could continue to scream Buuuuuuuuush for at least another week of the election season. Pelosi believes, incorrectly, that doing nothing will provide her Presidential candidate, plausible deniability and the same ability to cry Buuuuuuush/McCaaaaaaain up until the next debate.

Perhaps the first question is: Do we need to do anything? I think the answer to that, sadly, is yes. Here are just three stories of commercial financing ending or having terms attached that are a dramatic change:

– Catepillar (via the Chicago Tribune)
– State of Tennessee (via The Tennessean)
– McDonald’s (via the Chicago Tribune)

OK, something needs to be done, what?

In my perfect world, I would like to see the original Paulson bill come back. Strip out the pension support the mortgage term renegotiation and a few other ornaments from TARP and I would support it. That said, I don’t think that’s going to happen.

If Pelosi is at all interested in getting a bill done, an assumption we have to work with or the remainder of the discussion is moot, I’d be willing to bet that right now she has all kinds of piglets lined up waiting to be inserted in any bill she may bring back. As has been pointed out before, she has enough Democrat members that she doesn’t need any Republicans to pass a bill.

In order for Nancy to get her caucus to fully support the bill she would likely need to be even more draconian on the pay issues. She would also likely add the provision that sends earnings from the asset sales to ACORN and La Raza back in. Finally, I would expect to see some provision that would have direct help for homeowners who are facing foreclosure. While this may be Nancy’s druthers, I don’t see that a bill with those provisions would get through the Senate unless Wall-street had a dramatic, sustained meltdown. If a true panic sets in, all bets are off.

Another possibility is that nothing is done. I don’t think that’s going to happen because Nancy is not going to let the meltdown be hung around her neck even if she really believes it’s Buuuuuuush’s fault. No, she’s likely to do something.

The final option (assuming the Republicans can’t just rewrite the bill from scratch, and I don’t think there’s any possiblity of that) is to rebring essentially the same bill to the floor. There are two problems with this approach: First, there’s no chance that Pelosi would risk another shoot down unless she was absolutely sure the votes were there. Second, if the bill is the same, how do you get Republicans to change their vote when the public appears to be behind them and elections are getting even closer?

Here’s my plan:
First, we need to get someone to talk to the American people and communicate clearly the challenge we face. No more finger pointing, politicking or use of nebulous terms like “crisis!” If this is truly a crisis than explain it to us. We’re smarter than you think and we tend to band together across ideologies when we see a true National crisis in front of us (think 9/11). If you can’t put it into terms that the majority of Americans can understand, regardless of whether we agree with them, than you haven’t done your job as a National leader!

Second, the current group has lost all credibility! President Bush, Paulson, Pelosi, Reid, Frank, Dodd etc. all have personal skins to lose in this. Of them, the only one that I believe has personal integrity, but won’t allow himself to get into the gutter far enough to fight this out, is President Bush.

We’ve been told every couple of months for the past year that we have a “Crisis!” Housing, Bear Sterns, AIG, Lehman Brothers. We’re worn out from crisis’! Worse yet, each one that comes up is supposed to be “the act” that gets us past any further crisis. To date, that hasn’t happened.

As I said, the current crop has lost all credibility. I believe that is a big reason why the bailout bill failed. The public says “fool me once shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me!” They want to know that the money that they are about to put up will actually be used for the purpose it is intended for and that the folks running it are not just mouthing “American Taxpayer” but actually working in the best interest of the American taxpayer!

To that end, I propose that we need a new leader for this effort! I propose that if Paulson really believes this to be the crisis he has been telling everyone it is, he should work with President Bush and Congress and get Mitt Romney to run the effort.

Putting Mitt in would serve two purposes. First, while he  did run  for President, Mitt is outside of the Washington establishment.   You won’t find anyone who has no political affiliation to handle the job  but Mitt should be close and seen by most folks as a strong problem solver with an excellent financial mind. If you ask most people, they would say he is known for saving the horribly mismanaged Utah Olympics and that would go a long way towards credibility. Second, if Paulson handles the program, he will be replaced when the next President is elected. This is a role that needs continuity and needs to stay apolitical if it is to be successful. Putting Mitt in now would satisfy both of those needs.

Perhaps the most important reason for Mitt to be involved is that it would give a reason for Republicans to change their vote. While they may still not like all aspects of the bill, if a cogent explanation for the need was provided (something Mitt could do better than anyone in Washington) so that the public understood the need for the plan, adding Mitt’s name would allow Representatives to tip toe down the middle with a line that sound like: “I don’t like this. However, the case has been made and it’s important that we try this. If anyone can return all the money and perhaps a profit to the American taxpayer it is Mitt Romney.”

There is no easy answer here. I believe the bill that was voted down today is now the best possible hope we have. If we can get it back and get a trusted and capable overseer, we could yet find a silver lining in this mess.

Revisions/extensions (6:54 am 9/30/2008, steveegg) – Cleaned up the formatting slightly.

September 29, 2008

Hold The Phone!

by @ 8:53. Filed under Politics - National.

I wish I had one of those flashy light thingys that Drudge has….maybe I can get Steve to get me one for Christmas!

Speaking of Christmas….

It was closing in on midnight as I was tearing into the sausage last night. I tried to give a bit of editorial but honestly had though through it well enough. Today is another day and I have now had a chance to drink some coffee and think through this mishmash of legislation.

One line from last night’s post popped out at me this morning:

Treasury is also to focus on purchases assets held by retirement plans

Huh?   I thought the purpose of this bill was to reflate capital in companies that are at the core of our lending. What have retirements funds got to do with that?

Sure, large pension funds invest in assets. Sure, they invest in debt backed securities. Some of them even do a small amount of direct lending. While there could be some, I’m not aware of any pension fund that lends directly to homeowners.

This provision, this single paragraph in the bill, is there to provide political cover for Democrats. They have inserted this provision to reflate numerous union pension funds. Merry Christmas pension funds!   This is a horrible provision!

If the purpose of this bill is to restart our lending and pension funds do little if any direct lending, why are we allowing any of these funds to be allocated to them? This will siphon some amount of funds and move them away from their primary target. Which brings me to my other concern with this bill.

This bill gives far too much latitude without even so much as guidelines to the folks who brought this disaster to us. They didn’t make good decisions in the past, why should we expect them to now?

I remain conflicted on this bill. I feel a little like the first person who received chemo for cancer felt:

Doctor: “You have cancer. We believe that the best way to cure it is to give you poison! We think we can poison you to the fine point where your body throws out. If we miss by just a little bit, well, you die.”

Patient: “Oh, OK.”

What’s in The Sausage?

by @ 5:55. Filed under Politics - National.

I’ve read the bill…all 110 pages.   You can to, it’s here!

While most of this has been reported, there are a few clarifications that are worth noting:

Trouble Assets Relief Bill – TARP

  • Gives the Secretary of the Treasury the ability to Purchase or Insure these assets.   The combination of the amount purchased and the net amount, after premiums paid, can not exceed $700B
  • Several times in the bill there are notations that TARP should act to maximize the taxpayer’s dollars…nice sentiment, we’ll see what happens.

While generally saying they are to be non discriminatory, there are areas where the bill says Treasury should consider uniquely:

  • Treasury is instructed to consider the financial health of the institution they buy assets from.   If the asset purchase will not help the financial viability of the entity, Treasury is “instructed” to put that institution at the bottom of their purchase list.
  • On the other hand, the Treasury is to look favorably on institutions that have less than $1B, were adequately capitalized as of 6/30/08 and served low or moderate income populations…..isn’t that part of what go us into this problem?
  • Treasury is also to focus on purchases assets held by retirement plans

The Board of TARP includes: Chair of the FED, the Secretary of the FED, Director of the Federal Home Finance Agency, Chairman of the SEC, Secretary of HUD…none of these people seemed to have forseen this problem.   Are they the best folks to have giving oversight to this?   I’ve heard Mitt Romney’s name proffered to handle this thing.   Wouldn’t it be best to have some folks that are outside of those who created or allowed the problem to direct the resolution?

All revenues recouped go to the General Fund for reduction of Debt – This is a big issue!   How do you suppose the Dems will glom onto this and play games like have been done with Social Security?

The “Golden Parachute prohibition” does not apply to existing contracts and only applies as long as TARP owns securities or debt of the particular institution as a part of the asset purchase

As has been reported, TARP gets $250B now, $100B after the President sends a report to Congress and the remaining $350 after a second Presidential certification.   The final amount does not need Congress’ consent but Congress may vote to block it.

The bill does require TARP to receive warrants for non voting shares or Senior Debt of each company it buys assets from.   The bill leaves up to the Secretary for the Treasury to determine what price the warrants will be or what amount of debt.   The bill does not have a provision for how or when the warrants or debt would be extinguished.   There ought to be a provision that requires sale or forfeiture of the warrants within a certain period after the debt is cleared.   We don’t want the Federal Government being stockholders of any publicly traded stocks for an extended time.

Any gain (Ha!) or loss from the sale of preferred stock of Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae will be allowed to be recognized as an ordinary loss (no gains here) for financial institutions as long as they were purchased prior to 9/6 2008.   Typically, if they were held over a year, these loses would be capital and limited to certain limitations.   This is a nicety, I don’t know that it means much to these institutions.

The institutions that have assets purchased from them will not be able to deduct more than $500K of executive compensation.   This only applies to institutions that have at least $300M purchased from them and applies until TARP terminates which would be 2011 at the latest.

A few thoughts:

This program should not cost the taxpayers anywhere near $700B.   If Paulson and company do their job properly, this should cost no more than administrative costs and may return positive money to the treasury.

I can’t seem to find a provision that says TARP needs to do something with the warrants by a certain date.   Typically, warrants have an expiration date so perhaps that is part of the negotiating.   I’m nervous that the Secretary of the Treasury gets to negotiate all of the warrants or debt received.   When you get to negotiate not only the amount you will pay for the debt but the amount someone will pay you to take it, well, that sounds a whole lot like loan sharking to me!

I like the continued references to focusing on managing for the taxpayer.   Unfortunately, this is a governmental agency that they are asking to do it.   Can anyone name me one governmental agency that is careful with taxpayer money?

I’m sure there will be more clarification coming.

Score: McCain 1 – Obama 0

by @ 5:24. Filed under Politics - National.

I wrote last week that McCain’s gambit of suspending his campaign made the events of this weekend something like the gunfight at the campaign corral. It was going to be a high stakes gamble that would put the possibility of McCain’s election in the balance. It’s 7:30 PM and the House leaders have just had a brief news conference. Based on what it appears now will be passed, I’d say that as the smoke clears, McCain wins.

Remember that when McCain suspended his campaing last week, many people believed he did it as a political stunt. Blame John McCain for that as not doing a good job of communicating what he walked into. According to Bloomberg.com Lindsey Graham is quoted as saying:

“The fact is the House Republicans were not in the mix at all” until McCain arrived at the talks, said Graham, a South Carolina Republican. McCain “was decisive in regards to the House being involved.”

Tonight during the press conference, John Boehner, House Minority leader said:

they would have run over me like a freight train


While Nancy Pelosi calls House Republicans “unpatriotic” for missing a meeting, It turns out that they weren’t invited to it!

OK, so McCain was involved. Now the question is whether his attendance made any difference? To that, I’d have to say yes.

The latest bill has had the following positive changes:

  • Funds that were to be siphoned to ACORN and La Raza have been stripped from the bill.
  • The provision that allowed judges to reset mortgage terms has been stripped
  • If the “work out” (no longer called a bail out) costs taxpayers money after 5 years, Congress has an affirmative responsibility to present a plan to recoup the cost.
  • There will be an insurance program available as part of the program.

In comparison to what was inkled to us on Thursday, as Barney Frank and Chris Dodd frantically tried to head off McCain’s appearance in Washington, this bill has more accountability and doesn’t throw all vestiges of free market economics into the abyss.

While I’m far from happy about having to do this at all, I’ve concluded over the weekend that something needs to be done and the pure insurance option that the House Republicans were offering had too many shortcomings to effectively change the trajectory in any short order.

Had John McCain not arrived when he did, we would have had a 100% socialist, Big Government “solution” provided. Admittedly, this may only be 92% socialist, Big Government. Under the circumstances, I’d say that was an important 8%.

With the American public as anti “bail out” as the poles have suggested, the House Republicans have a good story to tell about how they, and only they, fought at all for the Taxpayer. If the Republicans point out McCain’s intervention and the changes made, I think the American public will see once again, who was a Leader and who merely tried to manage through a situation.

September 28, 2008

2008 NFL Week 4

by @ 10:19. Filed under Sports.

Let’s hope the byes improve the situation of 22-23-2 ATS and 3-3 O/U.

Green Bay (+1) @ Tampa Bay – Stat of the week; Brian Griese is 3-0 against the Pack.
Minnesota @ Tennessee (-3) – Did I mention I love defenses lately?
Philadelphia (-3) @ Chicago – The Bears are DONE!
Denver @ Kansas City (+10) – Given the lack of defense the Broncos have, it’s too many points.
Cleveland @ Cincinnati (-3.5) – The Game of the Weak.
Houston @ Jacksonville (-7) – The nightmare continues.
Arizona @ NY Jets (-1) – Favre is still indestructible.
San Francisco @ New Orleans (-4.5) – Take Dirty Rice over Rice-A-Roni and take the over-48.
Atlanta (+7) @ Carolina – Once again, too many points to give considering the road team has won the last 5.
Buffalo (-8) @ St. Louis – I didn’t know Trent Green was still in the league.
San Diego (-8) @ Oakland – It’s the same old story, same old song and dance.
Washington @ Dallas (-10.5) – The Injury Discount has been applied.
Baltimore (+6) @ Pittsburgh – I’d be surprised if there were more than 6 points scored. Take the under-34.

Mediocrity returns

by @ 10:00. Filed under Sports.

It was a painful week. Let’s review.

Dallas 27 (-3) @ Green Bay 16 – Everybody else was leaving the game with injuries.
Tampa Bay 27 (+3) @ Chicago 24 – Grease beats alcohol.
Carolina 10 (+3.5) @ Minnesota 20 – Defense still wins games.
Detroit 13 @ San Francisco 31 (-5) – Let’s review the smashing – San Fran beating the Lion Cubs by over 15 – check. Under 47 total points – check. Bad news – Matt Millen is no more.
Kansas City 14 @ Atlanta 38 (-6.5) – 186 yards rushing; yep, the irresistable force ran over the movable object.
Oakland 23 @ Buffalo 24 (-10-LOSS) – OH SO CLOSE!
Houston 12 @ Tennessee 31 (-5.5) – What rude hosts. I sure hope you took advantage
Cincinnati 23 @ NY Giants 26 (-13-LOSS) – At least the over/unders are back to last year’s form.
Arizona 17 (+3) @ Washington 24 – Some days you’re the dog, some days your the milk bone.
Miami 38 @ New England 13 (-13) – While that may not be the real Dolphins, I believe that’s the real Pats sans Brady.
St. Louis 13 (+10) @ Seattle 37 – Real nice for the Seahawks to show up just as I gave up on them </sarcasm>.
New Orleans 32 @ Denver 34 (-6-LOSS) – Inept playcalling from the Saints was, however, required.
Pittsburgh 6 (+3.5) @ Philadelphia 15 – Unfortunately, I took the wrong D.
Jacksonville 23 (+4.5) @ Indianapolis 21 – Tony Dungy is wondering whether the RCA Dome is still open.
Cleveland 10 @ Baltimore 28 (-3) – NewBrowns fans are chanting, “We Want Quinn!”
NY Jets 29 (+8.5) @ San Diego 48 – I should’ve gave the points.

7-9 ATS and 2-0 O/U puts me at a suckitude 22-23-2 ATS and 3-3 O/U. No wonder why I didn’t post much this past week.

September 26, 2008

Instant review – McCain by TKO

by @ 23:23. Filed under Miscellaneous.

The drunkblog below may not be the best record of the debate (I do recommend the gang at The Weekly Standard; they weren’t drinking heavily), but once the debate got onto the stated topic of foreign policy, the schooling of one Barack Obama by John McCain began in earnest. It was so much of a schooling that the refrain of the night from Obama, “I agree with John,” became an instant McCain commercial…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ec3aC8ZJZTc[/youtube]

I must note that this was also a common theme in the Republican debates, and we know how the Republican primaries turned out.

The Lie of the Night also belonged to Obama, who mischaracterized former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger’s words into support for unconditional meetings with Iran’s leaders. That also earned an instant smackdown from Kissinger (via Stephen F. Hayes and TWS).

First Presidential debate liveblog

by @ 19:30. Filed under Politics - National.

You know I wouldn’t miss this fun. John McCain and Barack Obama will be focusing on foreign policy and national security tonight from Ole’ Miss. Jim Lehrer will provide the “moderation”, and Shoebox and I will provide the libation.

For those new to the NRE liveblog experience, I do paraphrase a lot, questions will be italicized, answers will be in plain text, and my commentary in-line with either a question or an answer will be in parentheses. Commentary outside of a question or answer will also be in plain text. Let the drinking begin.

Ted Kennedy taken to hospital

by @ 17:56. Filed under Politics - National.

Fox News is reporting that Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) has been taken to a Cape Cod hospital, and that his condition is not immediately known.

May the Lord extend His healing hand on the Senator.

Revisions/extensions (11:00 pm 9/26/2008) – Sen. Kennedy suffered a “mild seizure”, and should already be back home (the update in the linked Fox News story said that he had been cleared to return home sometime before the debate started).

Programming note – debate edition

by @ 17:54. Filed under Miscellaneous.

While the liveblog promo said I would be kicking things off at 6:45 pm, I had assumed that the debate would start at 7 pm CDT. I forgot that Mississippi is in the Central Time Zone, so that will kick off at 7:45 pm, with the thread containing the Cover It Live widget going up at 7:30 pm. Both could be earlier if I decide so, but since I won’t be home before 7 pm, it’s not likely.

Thoughts on The Bailout

by @ 17:33. Filed under Business, Politics - National.

I’ll state up front that while I can toss numbers like nobody’s business, I’m not an expert on Wall Street economics. Like Shoebox, I don’t know which way, if any, is the right way out.

First, we have to remember why we are where we are, with an effectively-frozen credit market and the largest of the financial institutions teetering on the brink of collapse. It is because of an insistence by the federal government that the financial institutions lend to the credit-unworthy, combined with the gusto with which the financial institutions did lend to the credit-unworthy with the beliefs that housing prices would perpetually increase and that the federal government would step in if they got into trouble, that we got to a point where a correction in the housing market would threaten to bring the entire system down.

Compounding that is the Red Chinese factor. They hold a lot of debt, and the word is they’re calling it in right now.

There are essentially three things that can be done. The first is to essentially do “nothing”. The reason why I put that in scare quotes is that there are mechanisms in place to bail out individual financial institutions that fail, like Washingon Mutual. Indeed, I have to point out that the FDIC didn’t have to use any of its funds to complete that transaction. However, the fact that there is somewhere between $1.7 trillion and $7 trillion in “distressed” loans out there (or if one prefers, between 11% and 46% of the total value of the real estate) makes it improbable that, if a significant portion of those loans were to default, the current mechanisms can deal with that. True, not all of that is truly bad, but if even half of that is bad, it will make the S&L crisis look like a blip. It also does not address the immediate lack of liquidity in the markets in general and in the credit market specifically.

The second is the Paulson Socialism plan (the government buying that 11%-46% in value of the real estate) or the current Democratic Takeover of the Financial Sector alternative (the feds buying controlling stakes in the form of preferred stock in certain companies holding mortgage-backed securities). The model for the former is the successful Resolution Trust Corporation’s disposition of the assets of failed savings and loans at the end of the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s. The main reason that worked in the long term is that the RTC actually sought to get rid of those assets when the private market was able to reabsorb them. That is something I am not at all confident the government will be able to do so this time around for two reasons.

First, we’re talking trillions of dollars now instead of a few hundred billion dollars then. The RTC took 6 years to get rid of just over $300 billion of assets. While inflation makes a straight ten-fold increase in the time for the market to recover sufficiently to reabsorb this not quite accurate, it is fair to say it would take far longer than 6 years to reintegrate the “distressed” mortgages into the private sector.

Second, we’re within 120 days of potentially having both the executive and legislative branches of government in the hands of the Democrats. The fact that the RTC existed for several years before the election of Bill Clinton, and then the Democrats only had total control of government for 2 years, had something to do with the ability and indeed the willingness of the RTC to actually return the assets to the private sector.

I will stipulate to the likelyhood that injecting that money will have the effect of at least temporarily restarting the credit market. However, what happens when that money is burned through, especially with more social economic engineering likely in the bill and almost certainly no fundamental fix of the governmental demands that caused this? The lack of long-term positive effect the similarily-sized economic stimulus return of welfare package earlier this year had ought to provide a clue.

There is even less of a guarantee that government will get rid of any stake in financial companies. Given that government policy played a very large part in this mess, and given that this approach is being pushed by those that are at their core anti-business, I do not want the government in complete control of those companies.

Finally, there is the House Republican plan, which Shoebox and I briefly touched on. It would make it easier for Wall Street to heal itself without the takeover of either real estate or corporations by the government, but there wouldn’t be a lot of immediate relief to the credit market. Whatever direct savings in tax and regulatory breaks the financial sector would see would flow back to the federal government in the form of insurance for the half of the MBS that aren’t already backed by the feds. Depending on the range of tax and regulatory breaks, there would be a lessening of the pressure on the credit market from businesses who, with additional cash in their pockets, wouldn’t be as dependent on the credit market to operate.

It also isn’t what Wall Street is looking for; they have their own immediate self-interest at heart. They like “free” cash like anybody else, and they like not having to take responsibility for their role like anybody else.

The House Republican Plan

by @ 16:01. Filed under Politics - National.

Here is the plan being offered by the House Republicans.   From Politico.com:

* Rather than providing taxpayer funded purchases of frozen mortgage assets, we should adopt a mortgage insurance approach to solve the problem.

* Currently the federal government insures approximately half of all mortgage backed securities. (MBS) We can insure the rest of current outstanding MBS; however, rather than taxpayers funding insurance, the holders of these assets should pay for it. Treasury Department can design a system to charge premiums to the holders of MBS to fully finance this insurance.

* Have Private Capital Injection to the Financial Markets, Not Tax Dollars. Instead of injecting taxpayer capital into the market to produce liquidity, private capital can be drawn into the market by removing regulatory and tax barriers that are currently blocking private capital formation. Too much private capital is sitting on the sidelines during this crisis.

* Temporary tax relief provisions can help companies free up capital to maintain operations, create jobs, and lend to one another. In addition, we should allow for a temporary suspension of dividend payments by financial institutions and other regulatory measures to address the problems surrounding private capital liquidity.  

*Immediate Transparency, Oversight, and Market Reform. Require participating firms to disclose to Treasury the value of their mortgage assets on their books, the value of any private bids within the last year for such assets, and their last audit report.

* Wall Street Executives should not benefit from taxpayer funding. Call on the SEC to review the performance of the Credit Rating Agencies and their ability to accurately reflect the risks of these failed investment securities.  

*Create a blue ribbon panel with representatives of Treasury, SEC, and the Fed to make recommendations to Congress for reforms of the financial sector by January 1, 2009.

My gut reaction:

Insurance – OK but what are the rates and do the companies have the cash to pay for the insurance? Liquidity has been a huge issue so how does making them pay more $ help that problem?

Private Capital – Yeah, motherhood, apple pie, “God bless America!” Capital isn’t coming into these markets until they see opportunity. You can’t just say “do it” and expect seriously spooked investors to hop back in.

Tax relief – I don’t get this one at all. These companies are writing off these loans and creating significant tax losses. I can’t imagine that many of them will have much net income that this even matters.

Transparency – Amen

Executives not benefiting – Amen

Blue Ribbon Panel – haven’t seen one yet that really helped but OK

My gut is that while this probably protects the taxpayer more, I don’t know that it would provide the enema that these markets seem to need.

Your thoughts?

Revisions/extensions (4:15 pm 9/26/2008, steveegg) – There’s a couple of bullet points not mentioned by Politico in the release from Paul Ryan, my Congresscritter and main sponsor of the House Republican plan:

– Limit Federal Exposure for High Risk Loans: Mandate that the GSEs no longer
securitize any unsound mortgages

– Call on the SEC to audit reports of failed companies to ensure that the financial
standing of these troubled companies was accurately portrayed.

I haven’t seen the specifics of the tax and regulatory relief, but I strongly suspect that relief will extend beyond the financial sector. Additional cash would allow companies to rely less on the non-existent credit market to function.

Revisions/extensions (4:15 pm 9/26/2008, shoebox)   – One thing I haven’t seen in any of the information being debated is an elimination or a set aside of the requirement to “mark to market.”   As I understand the issue, the “liquidity crunch” is being largely caused by two issues 1. banks are afraid that lending to another institution could leave them exposed as the perception is that any institution could file bankruptcy at any time, therefore, no inter institution loans.   2.   the bankruptcy scenario is being created because the institutions have insufficient capital as they continue to write down loans each time someone else has a fire sale.   The point being that much of this problem is not a liquidity issue in the sense of their not being enough money floating around but liquidity in the sense that they cannot lend anymore because the the capital they have remaining is already “pledged” for their existing loans

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