Credit crisis over!!!

Thank goodness. The credit crisis is over, according to Wall Street's most revered bank CEO, JP Morgan's Jamie Dimon.

In mid-April, Dimon called it:

Dimon said on a conference call with reporters that the credit-market crisis may be as much as 80 percent over.

The problem "is working itself out," Dimon said.

The crisis really got under way, by most people's reckoning, last summer. So if we were 80% done in April, it's completely over now in September. This is true whether you measure in time or in the level of any index of financial stocks.

Whew! Glad that one's over. Buy a house now before it doubles!

Now tell us how you really feel

Some people are even more pissed off about the Fannie-Freddie bailout than I am.

Happy Bank Failure Friday, everyone!!!

It's 4:15 on the West Coast, and lazy Bush appointee Sheila Bair still hasn't seized any banks. I guess she's still busy modifying loans for all the fraudulent borrowers from fraudulent lender IndyMac, after she arbitrarily showered billions of dollars of insurance money on IndyMac's uninsured depositors, leaving the insurance fund so low that she's going to have raid taxpayer money from the U.S. Treasury. Heckuva job, Bairie!

We've had two weeks in a row with bank failures (admittedly tiny banks). Will Sheila get off her ass and make it three? And when will she quit screwing around with these tiny banks and go after some big fish?

The Feds did give Downey Savings and Loan a little bitch-slap today. It won't be too long until DSL is seized.

But the big news is Fannie and Freddie bailout weekend. The stocks jumped today on bailout speculation, then tanked after-hours when people realized that even Wall Street lackey Hank Paulson might not be so crass as to make equity speculators whole at the expense of taxpayers.

As they say on Big Thunder Mountain, "Hang on to them hats and glasses, 'cause this here's the wildest ride in the wilderness!"

UPDATE: Bingo!!! Silver State Bank goes down. This is a personal favorite of mine, one I've been waiting for. It's also the one where John McVain's son just slipped out the back, Jack. No scandal there, unfortunately. He joined the board when SSBX acquired his Arizona bank recently, and he bailed just so he wouldn't become a Neil Bush campaign ad.

Touchdown, Wasilla!!!

If you didn't watch Sarah Palin's speech, you missed something special. It will be hard for McVain to follow that act. Can we skip straight to President Palin?

Even the commies get lucky sometimes

Commie professor Joseph Stiglitz writes in the commie publication The New Republic on the causes of the current financial crisis. Commie though he is, I can't fault anything in the article. What's more, he titled the article "Falling Down," after the recent W.C. Varones Blog discussion of the 1993 movie of the same name.

Greenspan's Body Count: Inland Empire

Today's episode of Greenspan's Body Count comes from the Inland Empire, a.k.a. the Armpit of California, a region of heinous sprawl built in the desert east of Los Angeles so that people could spend hours commuting to their jobs.

Kelle Lee Jarka was lured into a mortgage he couldn't afford by the promise of skyrocketing home prices. When the bubble popped, so did his wife's head:

County records show Kelle Jarka was notified between February and June that his Tamarisk Street house was going into foreclosure and he owed the state nearly $30,000 in taxes and fees.

In early April, he bought life insurance policies worth more than $1 million on his wife, Isabelle, according to Murrieta police. She was bludgeoned to death a few weeks later, on April 28, in the master bedroom with her infant son nearby, police say.

Jarka's attorney, Mark Johnson, said money problems were nothing new for the Jarkas, and it certainly was not the reason for Isabelle Jarka's demise.

"They had been living on the edge financially for years," Johnson said. "I just don't think this was a murder for financial gain."

The Jarkas lived beyond their means, Johnson said. The couple had an expensive boat, a nice house and many creature comforts.

Living beyond their means? Whoever would have encouraged that?



Who could it be? I just don't know. Could it be... GREENSPAN?

Greenspan's Body Count now stands at forty-four:

Isabelle Jarka
Robert Wagner
Lt. Michael Howe
John Roberts
Palmer C. White
Dianne Pittman White
Ed Boesen
Edwin F. Rachleff
Carlene Balderrama
Troy VanderStelt
Scott M. Coles
Dawn E. Armstrong
Thomas Lizotte
Jonathon Calvin "40-Cal" Jacques
Salvador X
Lupe X
Jade X
Little Boy X
Little Girl X
Kashmir Billon
Bill McMurtry
Lisa McMurtry
James Hahn
Raymond Donaca
Deanna Donaca
[redacted]
[redacted]
Michel Veillette
Nadya Ferrari-Veillette
Marguerite Veillette
Vincent Veillette
Mia Veillette
Jacob Veillette
Maurice Pereira
Natasha Pereira
Mark Achilli
Raed Al-Farah
Andrew Kissel
Rufus Shaw Jr.
Lynn Flint Shaw
Mr. Pierce
Walter Buczynksi
Marci Buczynski
Jason Washington

McCain's Folly

History repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as freakin' awesome.

Seward's Folly

The term "Seward's Folly" refers to the United States' Secretary of State William Seward's decision to purchase the Alaskan territory from Russia in 1867. At the time, Seward's decision to buy the land was regarded as a terrible one by many critics in the United States — hence, the term "folly."

Seward's Folly resulted in the purchase of 6,000,000 [approximately 586,000 - good catch, IA] square miles for $7,200,000 US Dollars (USD) — only a few cents per acre. Though public opinion of the purchase was generally positive, it was the words of several critics that gave "Seward's Folly" its name — most notably, The New York Tribune's Horace Greely, who claimed that Alaska "contained nothing of value but furbearing animals, and these had been hunted until they were nearly extinct. Except for the Aleutian Islands and a narrow strip of land extending along the southern coast the country would be not worth taking as a gift."

However, in the 1890s, large quantities of gold were discovered in the Alaskan territory, which made critics of Seward's Folly change their tune and praise him for his foresight. Unfortunately, William Seward never got to see "Seward's Folly" acknowledged for the great accomplishment it was, as he passed away in 1872, before the gold reserves had been found.

McCain's Folly

The term "McCain's Folly" refers to Republican Presidential candidate John McCain's decision to select little-known Alaskan governor Sarah Palin as his running mate in 2008. At the time, McCain's decision to pick Palin was regarded as a terrible one by many critics in the United States — hence, the term "folly."

McCain's Folly resulted in the vice-presidential nomination of a woman with a remarkable record in public service as a clean government champion who took down the entrenched, corrupt Alaska Republican Party machine. In addition to her impressive record in Alaskan government, Palin brings an astonishingly wide-ranging personal background: marathon runner, moose hunter, beauty queen, sports reporter, mother of five, high school basketball star. Though public opinion of the selection was generally positive, it was the words of several critics that gave "McCain's Folly" its name — most notably, Charles Krauthammer, the ninnies at the National Review and jilted McCain groupie Lindsey Graham who "push[ed] so hard for Mr. Lieberman — Mr. McCain, Mr. Graham and Mr. Lieberman are longtime 'traveling companions' — that he vexed some of the other advisers."

However, in the general election, Palin's modest origins, principled leadership, and substantial accomplishments will likely help McCain with a wide variety of voters: disgruntled conservatives, midwestern union workers, and mainstream women. Palin's performance on the campaign trail may make critics of McCain's Folly change their tune and praise him for his foresight. Unfortunately, John McCain is advanced in age, and may never get to see "McCain's Folly" acknowledged for the great accomplishment it was, or to see Sarah Palin elected President in a landslide.

John S. McCain. The S is for Seward.