“Most commentators?” Who exactly are you talking about and what are their credentials? “Most commentators” also didn’t see this crisis coming even when it was right under their noses, so, no, that doesn’t have heft with me. So are you saying we wouldn’t be where we are without the Lehman failure? It would all be rainbows, hackey-sacks and frisbees in the markets and economy? Wow. I don’t even know what to say. Are you really Dennis Kneale?

Remember, morals are a big part of our society, especially a free market system. If they break down completely, we’ve got nothing, nada, zip, zilch, no matter what the feds do.

And why are you resorting to petty name-calling those who disagree with you – calling me and others “nihilists” because we don’t agree with your opinions and don’t agree with (and care about) what the feds are doing to “solve” this mess? That’s a laugh riot. That’s just over the top. Again, please let’s move on.

February 6th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
Ah, so I see you’re clinging to the “because they allowed Lehman to fail” camp. Do you have any proof this is the case? Let’s just agree to disagree here and move on please.

I’m not “clinging” to anything. Most commentators agree Paulson allowed Lehman to fail because he or more probably the white house was suffering a bit of moral hazard remorse. It’s clearly the biggest single mistake in the whole process so far and that’s why it’s never going to happen again. What do I need proof of?

Machiavelli999 Says:
February 6th, 2009 at 3:22 pm
I think the parallel with Iraq is dead on. It was a stupid mistake, but now that we are in the mess we have to deal with it.

…Unfortunately Machiavelli the nihilists amongst us are unfamiliar with the Chinese proverb:

It is better to light a candle than to curse the dark.

Moralizing is not going to butter any parsnips but it sure make them feel good about themselves.

MSNBC reporting stimulus deal imminent. Perhaps there is hope yet.

…Well Mannwich that’s where we disagree. It has not been an unmitigated disaster because it’s achieved it’s goal which was to stabilize the banking system. If it hadn’t the Dow wouldn’t be at 8250 or thereabouts believe me. I’m not saying there were no mistakes, they should never have let Lehman go down but for a moment they succumbed to the arguments of the hazard moralists like yourself and it producece an unmitigated disaster. These are all enormously complex legal and financial problems with a global dimension in many cases as several people involved have told me. It doesn’t surprise me one bit that they have called in outsiders for help. This is not how we want it to be it is how it is!

…many of these firms on Wall Street deserve to fail?

….It’s not a matter of if they “deserve to fail” for godsake. It’s a matter of the collateral damage that will ensue if they do. Much of this is uncharted territory, these guys are doing their best to fix the problem. Will they get it all perfect? Probably not. Would you, would Rob, would Bruce who seems excited by the fact we’ll have public debt/gdp parity soon. It’s a f@#$%& mess that is the consequence of incorrect policy choices over the past eight years (well 2000 to 2007 really). It’s like Iraq, invading was one of the dumbest things we’ve done in a long while but once there you had to try and get the situation under control.

WE will equal Italy’s 1/1 government debt/gdp by the end of 2009.

What would your high school teachers say about “concensus was for a -524,000 job loss..”? You are telling us there was a gain as a loss of a negative number is actually a positive one?

Fed Overwhelmed, Calls Emergency Consultants To Untangle AIG

AIG is just one piece of the derivatives mess. Nonetheless AIG alone is so complex no one can figure it out. In response, the Fed Calls Emergency Consultants To Untangle AIG.