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Deal Ron Paul Supporters (Human and/or Automated):

In the spirit of last-day-in-office pardons and stealing of “W” keys from White House keyboards, I have developed totally unsanctioned DealBreaker policy that will likely only last until someone notices this post.

Henceforth, my automated comment script will replace the text “Ron Paul” with a hyperlink to this image.

T…
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2 May, 2008| Economy | Comments (0) @ 12:54

Is Risk Evil? Depends, Are You Formerly An Extended Member Of The Carter Administation?

If Woody had just gone to the policeonly we hadn’t let those pesky NYSE members incorporate, none of this ever would have happened.

I do so love the pundits who yearn for the good ‘ole days when inflation was inflation and bankers were scared. The self-delusion that somehow we can do without the separation of ownership and control in financial firms and still have a globally competitive banking system is nothing if not a bit of “when I was your age” self-indulgence. So when the likes of Peter J. Solomon suggest that somehow “unlimited capital” (and where can I find that?) and a lack of “personal liability” have combined to assure “…the country’s goin’ to hell faster than when that son of a bitch Roosevelt was in charge. Too much cheap money sloshing around the world. The worst mistake we ever made was letting Nixon get off the gold standard,” well, it is difficult not to smile gently and say “isn’t that quaint?” Until you realize it is an election year and someone might just be listening seriously to such rantings. Now t…
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2 May, 2008| Economy | Comments (0) @ 12:38

Selling 20,000 Jobs Contracts!

Instead of just trading on the jobs data, Annelena Lobb has this report on trading the jobs data.
Predicting the jobs number is an inexact but popular science. The economy lost 20,000 jobs in April…
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2 May, 2008| Economy | Comments (0) @ 12:36

After the number: Strong am I with the Force, but not that strong

So much for my morning prediction. There is extensive commentary on the street that says this number isn’t strong by any means. The manufacturing report also showed a lot of inventory building and was positively impacted by higher oil prices. So none of these reports are good. I think the flattish stock market now makes more sense than how we opened.That being said, if job losses putz around at -75,000 for a few months and then recover, that would be a very mild recession. I think the recovery will be tepid, slowed by both Fed hikes and consumer weakness. Consumers are going to have to spend a long time repairing their balance sheets….
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2 May, 2008| Economy | Comments (0) @ 12:35

Stimulus Check

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2 May, 2008| Economy | Comments (0) @ 12:30

The Bonus: Airline Brain Problems

The Bonus: Airline Brain Problems

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2 May, 2008| Economy | Comments (0) @ 12:22

Departures May Change More Than the Look of ECB

The departure of two European Central Bank Governing Council members this summer could rebalance of group that has left interest rates unchanged since last June.
Nicholas Garganas, whose term expires June 14, announced on Friday that he won’t seek reappointment as head of the Greek central bank. Austrian Klaus Liebscher p…
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2 May, 2008| Economy | Comments (0) @ 12:13

You Killed a Tree For That?

You Killed a Tree For That?

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2 May, 2008| Economy | Comments (0) @ 12:09

The Riceman Cometh

As you all know, Equity Private’s tenure with us here at DealBreaker is drawing to a close, pending the triumphant* return of Massah Ron Blarney, this Monday. We begged her to stay, because she irritates the commenters better than anyone we know, but apparently there are more important things for Trixie to tend to than Kliarney’s houseplants. What, praytell? We could just come out and say it, but given your performance with the Fed fund rates, Ron insisted we put it to our genius readers first. After the jump, we’ve assembled a series of possibilities, one of which is correct.

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2 May, 2008| Economy | Comments (0) @ 11:59

Warren Buffett: A Media & Watcher’s 360 Review Into Annual Meeting (BRK.A, BRK.B, C, WWY)

Everyone loves covering Warren Buffett, rain or shine. His long-term shareholders love him, the media follows his every move, and everyone on Wall Street either cares about his potential next buyout or cares about the stock positions he discloses in his latest filings. This weekend is the Annual Meeting for Berskshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK.A) (NYSE: BRK.B), so you can just about count on steady weekend coverage too. There are two important coverage pieces that Buffett fans and financial viewers will want to see today and this weekend. CNBC has been airing bits of a Becky Quick interview with Warren…
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2 May, 2008| Economy | Comments (0) @ 11:27

Credit Worth’s Slide Outside of Housing and Related Industries Seems Milder than that of 2000-2002, but Fundamentals Still Favor Caution

The 2001 recession was worse not only in terms of employment, but also in terms of business sales, profits, corporate credit rating revisions, high-yield bond spreads, and the high-yield bond default rate….
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2 May, 2008| Economy | Comments (0) @ 11:13

How Long Can the Rally Run?

The shellacking equities took through the first few months of the year has all but been washed away entirely in the span of six weeks. Surprising or not, the market will be hard-pressed to continue at this pace for much longer.
Investors remain concerned about credit-market issues, and the economy is growing at a meager pace, b…
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2 May, 2008| Economy | Comments (0) @ 11:05

Friday links: trade secrets

“The most recent circumstantial evidence also suggests that the Fed may bear some responsibility for the commodities boom.” (Economist.com)
The many flavors of AAA. (…
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2 May, 2008| Economy | Comments (0) @ 10:55

Moral v. Moral Hazard

Should we be surprised that most “economic” proposals that come to light in an election year are tainted with impossible populist conflicts? Probably not, but that makes it no less painful. Tempts one to reduce the discussion to the always popular analogies section of your favorite program entrance exam. Or to beg for someone to put together a mandatory financial literacy program for the country. I mean seriously, who nominates these clowns?
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2 May, 2008| Economy | Comments (0) @ 10:48

Secondary Sources: Deserving Homeowners, Fed Up Asia, Reich

A roundup of economic news from around the Web.
Who’s Deserving?: Floyd Norris of the New York Times looks at the tricky question of figuring out which homeowners are deserving of aid to prevent foreclosure. “As the mortgage crisis spilled over into a credit squeeze that threatened to bring down Wall Street, the government has tried to find ways to prevent disaster while not helping those who do not deserve help. That can be seen in the program the Federal Housing Administration initially offered to homeowners facing ballooning mortgage payments. It would refinance their mortgages, but only if they had proved they were deserving by keeping current on the payments before the interest rate reset. It turns out, as R…
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2 May, 2008| Economy | Comments (0) @ 10:46

A Kinder, Gentler Recession

Declines in employment through the first fourth months of 2008 provide evidence that this recession will be swift and shallow compared to the past two recessions….
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