US Policy

Another interesting "open letter" from a hedge fund manager fighting back about the wave of populist rage:

http://zerohedge.blogspot.com/2009/05/cliff-asness-i-am-ready-for-my.html

So the plan to buy up toxic assets comes out tomorrow.  The WSJ is making it sound vague again, which scares me.  An entity backed by the FDIC (apparently) is going to buy and hold toxic assets with a public-private partnership.  They're also of course trying to cool everyone down who suddenly, and unsurprisingly is having second thoughts about dealing with a government who is run by a mob with pitchforks.  Will be interesting to see what effect the announcement has tomorrow.  Given the run-ups the economy has had, I wonder whether buying some puts might be a wise idea

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/index.php?cl=12363500

I have just finished watching this clip and while I never liked much about Giuliiani but his points are mind boggling:

1.) He's suggesting cuts in government spending right now?  Really?  Has he ever talked to an economist who supports this?

Everyone is up in arms about the Obama tax increase for 2011.  Am I missing something?  Isn't he pretty much returning taxes to Regan-era levels at a point at which were going to have to generate some revenue to compensate for the counter-cyclical spending?  What else would you do?  What is the alternative?  I think the attempts to describe this as class warfare are simply rhetorical nonsense. 

So I remember Wall Street rallying big time, when Geithner was announced as Obama's pick, but my impression is that the bloom has come off the rose. Anyone disagree?

I'm not nearly as negative on the Obama budget as everyone else seems to be. To me, it strikes me as relatively moderate given the circumstances. What am I missing that has everyone up in arms? Taxes have been historically low recently and we've had a huge bubble. I'm not particularly worked up by the additional taxes, since they're not applied in the near term. The spending is largely just a counter-cyclical Democratic grab-bag. I'm not wild about any of it, but as "I" once said, in times of down turn it's worthwhile to put people to work digging holes.