Sunday, March 16, 2008

a slow weekend

... most of the fun news has been in areas I don't cover - elections, sports, etc.

If it's not Iraq, W, privacy, torture, or the economy, I don't have a lot to say... & I'm making a conscious effort to avoid commenting on the Dem primary. When the Dem candidate is known I'll start commenting on the campaigns. (Same with NM1: there are currently three viable candidates. I have a preference, but will wait till after Jun 3 NM primary to devote virtual ink to the campaign.)

Today's semi-relevant news:
JPMorgan to buy Bear for $2 a share
By JOE BEL BRUNO and MADLEN READ, AP Business Writers
16 March 2008
NEW YORK - JPMorgan Chase said Sunday it will acquire rival Bear Stearns for a bargain-basement $236.2 million — or $2 a share — a stunning collapse for one of the world's largest and most storied investment banks.
Treasury Secretary Paulson was on Fox News today, being interviewed by Chris Wallace. Wallace seemed to be trying to ask substantive questions. Sec'y Paulson was being more than mildly inarticulate while trying desperately not to answer the questions. Lot's of references to fundamental long-term strength of the economy, which, as I've pointed out previously, is beside the point:
Long run is a misleading guide to current affairs.
In the long run we are all dead.

[John Maynard Keynes (1883–1946), British economist. A Tract on Monetary Reform, ch. 3 (1923)]
Hoover could have observed in 1930 that the long-term prospects for the American economy were good. He would have been right.

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