tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9612609.post6886715836541863696..comments2023-09-29T06:58:20.125-07:00Comments on Badtux the Snarky Penguin: WTF kinda drugs are our leaders smoking?BadTuxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345749557330760251noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9612609.post-58679643199271123402009-06-16T11:32:12.811-07:002009-06-16T11:32:12.811-07:00what next, they start talking about the Borg threa...<i>what next, they start talking about the Borg threat to the Centauri sector?</i><br /><br />Narn it, that was good.<br /><br />Baz Luhrmann also had a good one, worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing gum.Debhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05459751273157119630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9612609.post-28705860761089820212009-06-16T09:37:57.141-07:002009-06-16T09:37:57.141-07:00Worrying about inflation now is like worrying abou...Worrying about inflation now is like worrying about water damage to the basement while trying to put out a house fire.Comrade Misfithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15404477636451308763noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9612609.post-20329532049661242112009-06-16T08:53:12.138-07:002009-06-16T08:53:12.138-07:00Actually, the investment institutions with the exc...Actually, the investment institutions with the exception of Goldman Sachs are now mostly owned by banks. But one thing you didn't hear on the news was how the buyout was done. In most cases it was a stock-only merger, i.e., the stockholders of both institutions got shares of the new institution. No cash involved. <br /><br />Regarding the mattress money the banks have shoved into the Federal Reserve, the Fed has the power granted under the Fed's charter to increase reserve ratios to keep it there until the Fed wants it released. So while worry about inflation from that mattress money is warranted, it's something the Fed can control by using powers it already has as central banker. Similarly, the Fed can "unwind" its open market operations and take money out of the economy that way, and deflate as it slowly lowers the reserve ratio.<br /><br />I do agree that when the economy turns up, *then* inflation is something to worry about. But right now, with asset prices and wages still plummeting, inflation is about as real as Martian invaders, and just as worthy of worrying about. The Fed has the tools it needs to handle inflation once it IS something to worry about... but now isn't the time. Worrying about inflation right now is, excuse my language, FUCKING INSANE. <br /><br />And remember you heard it from Paul Krugman first, but he's politer than me :).<br /><br />- Badtux the Economics PenguinBadTuxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01345749557330760251noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9612609.post-3539054684646592862009-06-16T06:35:50.954-07:002009-06-16T06:35:50.954-07:00I'm a little bit confused, but I know you can ...I'm a little bit confused, but I know you can straighten me out.<br /><br />I understood that many of the "banks" (formerly investment institutions) used the bailout money to buy weaker banks, etc., therefore <i>spending</i> the bailout money and thus not just moving the numbers around their banking ledgers. Granted, most of it has been used as usual (payoffs to the unindicted criminals - Goldman Sachs, Citi, Morgan Stanley/Chase through the AIG funnel - who created the scam).<br /><br />And inflation is something that we will need to worry about several years in the future when that bailout money <i>is</i> finally used by the banks (after being begged grievously by Congress/regulators to do so) for purposes like loans - and other acquisitions, and it's just a scare story now to stop the money from flowing into avenues that are actually trying to cure the liquidity trap (which they actually care nothing about right now).<br /><br />Help me to understand better what's really going on here, friend. Thanks for all you do. We rely on you to keep us well informed.<br /><br />(And, of course, the insurance scam continues (now under the aegis of the "change" candidate).)<br /><br />S<br /><br /><i>So it goes in the United States of Fucking Insane...</i>Cirzehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07070125217972397204noreply@blogger.com