Will the Real Victim Please Stand Up?

It rode slow out of the eastern Sun like the Bank Robbers of Old, but it is now up to $42 billion and carries the moniker of ‘Write Down’. I may have missed something over the past years, of course; it is just when did Banks get Debts which exceed national GDPs, you know, those things which should not be confused with Operating Revenues. Barack Obama thinks that there should be a Private Solution to the Lehman Crisis. I ask why Anyone thinks that these Financials are in any way Private anymore. One cannot claim non-Public status anytime they can inflict greater damage than the IRS on millions of American Households.

The Country is going Nuts again over the Price of Gasoline. Only two Drilling platforms and 20% of the national Refineries are shut down, and the Refineries should be back up in 10 Days; the loss of two platforms should be minimal multi-Millions, if the Rigs are recoverable. Refinery capacity elsewhere in the Country is not Over-extended, and should be able to take up the slack with minimal Cost increases for Gas. The Gas Price run-ups were only an aberration, and prices should return to normal relatively soon. Besides, I filled my tank before the Storm hit Galveston.
And People asked Me why I advised Friends to fill their Propane and Heating Oil needs in late August.

I present this Post from Arnold Kling for Those who feel a commitment to a diligent Reading of the Financial Crisis; if One studies the Links provided, One can understand that Fannie and Freddie were no populated by Economists and Banking personnel, but by Politicians dedicated to continuance of 'Fill of their own Food trough'. The role of Fannie and Freddie was to provide continuity to Mortgage lending, basically by maintaining stability of Pricing in that Lending. Fannie and Freddie should have announced that subprime financing was dangerous and Stupid, when Private Venders first established the practice; they were under a Mandate structure which functionally dictated, if not deliberately stated, what their course of action should be. Instead, Fannie and Freddie entered into the deviancy themselves, and took action to underwrite this bad Banking so that it could expand and regenerate. lgl