AIG
We own it! Well 80% of it, but hell that is well beyond full control. I think this will be an good deal in the end for the American taxpayer. It sounds like a really bad deal right now, but the history of the Fed is that just about everything they take over the eventually make a profit. Yes, yes, eventually is the key word, but the Fed runs a tight ship and beyond the political appointments there are some really good and smart people working for them. I also think that it was good that the CEO and the rotten/supine management of AIG was summarily fired and that moral hazard was returned the the market as the stock greatly reduced.
In Fed I trust.
The Market
They are skittish/scared. The market is still unsettled because they worry about people pulling out of money market funds, and there is still work what will happen the two remaining Investment houses, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. And finally the federal government still has not given a clear model as to how, when, and for whom they will intervene.
The campaign
I will get to this later when old man McCain decides what he is going to really stand behind. He isn't so much flip flopping and twisting in the wind. All I know is that I will never be able to trust Sen. Deregulation with any regulations he proposes. That and his ahistoric (and irresistible dig at FDR) to call the regulatory agencies as an alphabet soup. I know I don't really understand exactly what happened, but McCain (and Palin) seem clueless and less than honest.
Barry's funny elementary description of the situation.
Here is the Daily Show's take on it. The first minute is classic.
_John
image: Spencer Platt/Getty
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