Open Thread

Posted by BooMan | Jul 30, 2008 | 28 |

I guess we need one of these. What’s going on in the world? I’m disconnected.

About The Author

BooMan

Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.

28 Comments

Real History Lisa on July 30, 2008 at 10:10 am

We had an earthquake in LA. I missed it – was out hiking in the mountains above Malibu. It’s gorgeous here just out of the city – amazing.
RollaMO on July 30, 2008 at 10:12 am

What’s going on in my little corner of the world is Obama, baby! Local paper covered the ticket line yesterday. It was blistering hot, humid, but the attitudes were great. I’m off to see him this afternoon.

P.S. – big deal in Rolla. The article notes he’s the only presidential candidate to visit, William Jennings Bryan’s train rolled through, but he didn’t stop. Populist my ass.

http://www.therolladailynews.com/homepage/x223019545
- eeblet on July 30, 2008 at 10:58 am
  
  Report back, please! The comments on the article you linked were a bit disheartening… but then, they usually are.
  - RollaMO on July 30, 2008 at 11:10 am
    
    I had some good conversations with people in line, but one guy behind me said he wanted to ask the senator about the “9/11 conspiracy…”
    - eeblet on July 30, 2008 at 5:57 pm
      
      All the pressing issues progressives should be concerned with, and….
      
      Hmm, maybe 9-11 conspiracy is in itself a Repug conspiracy to make leftists look like nuts.
Brendan Skwire on July 30, 2008 at 10:37 am

John Conyers is doing his “Contempt for Karl” kabuki again.

Who knows, maybe he means it this time, but what’s more probably is he needs some facetime in the newspaper. I look forward to a sternly worded letter.
- americanforliberty on July 30, 2008 at 10:44 am
  
  barking dog don’t bite..I guess the same could be said for Congressmen who write great letter, but forgets there is a prison cell in the basement for being in contempt of Congress.
  - idredit on July 30, 2008 at 11:40 am
    
    House Panel Voted to hold Rove in contempt
    - americanforliberty on July 30, 2008 at 12:06 pm
      
      i saw that so when is the House Sargent at Arms going to go arrest Karl??
      - Brendan Skwire on July 30, 2008 at 12:10 pm
        
        HI and welcome back to “Simple Answers to Simple Questions”. Today’s guest is americanforliberty, who asks “when is the House Sargent at Arms going to go arrest Karl??”
        
        Answer: Never, although a sternly worded letter is currently being drafted.
        
        Thanks for playing, and we’ll see you next time on Amurca’s favorite show, “Simple Answers to Simple Questions”!
      - BooMan on July 30, 2008 at 12:20 pm
        
        I bet they vote out contempt in the full house. And then they’ll have to decide what kind of remedy to seek. Given the way DOJ ignored the Miers/Bolton contempt charges, they may actually signal a willingness to go for Inherent Contempt. But they better be willing to have Rove call their bluff.
      - americanforliberty on July 30, 2008 at 12:28 pm
        
        karl is probably getting his plane ticket to Paraguay ready. I like to see the house arrest Karl, show some backbone.
      - dada on July 30, 2008 at 12:55 pm
        
        puhlease…spare me the wishful thinking. fitzmas came and went and all we got was a chamber[pot] full of quisling demoRATs, and an endless kabuki…nothing’s going to happen to karl, harriet, josh, abu, or anyone else, period, end of story.
        
        you really think chimpy will let any of his sycophants and enablers suffer any consequences? he’ll pardon them all, and a long list of others…including the teleCONS…and their left-handed dogs on the way out the door. in the interium, we’ll continue to be subjected to bit players like monica goodling, and other unqualified regent graduates, being threatened with hollow gestures about truth, justice, and the american way…and following the inauguration, a “healing” process…for the good of the nation, ya know…along with whatever minimal restoration of the constitution and the rule of law that they may deem necessary…minimal, l assure you…complete. waste. of. time.
      - Brendan Skwire on July 31, 2008 at 10:33 am
        
        you can’t possibly believe that.
        the sun and surf is getting to your head.
        
        It is simply not going to happen.
      - Brendan Skwire on July 31, 2008 at 11:39 am
        
        I may have to eat a hat after all, if Pelosi and Co. act on this:
        
        Judge Bates just issued his opinion in the Miers and Bolten contempt case–and he ruled in favor of the House. Miers will have to appear and Bolten will have to turn over the documents a description of the documents he is withholding. (I guess all it took was for me to post this post.)
        
        This also means Rove will have to appear, as Bates threw out the notion of “absolute immunity.”
        
        I’ll have more shortly.
boran2 on July 30, 2008 at 10:46 am

What, they don’t have WiFi at the beach?
- CabinGirl on July 30, 2008 at 10:50 am
  
  perish the thought.
  - AP on July 30, 2008 at 10:59 am
    
    Heh. You could always get Verizon’s network. According to the commercials, you can have network access while sitting on a pier…during your down time.
    
    :<)
    
    BTW, you have mail, but it can wait.
    - CabinGirl on July 30, 2008 at 11:04 am
      
      Apparently Verizon is the only carrier that works here. Maybe Alltel too, but that’s it. Good thing I didn’t get an iphone and expect it to work here.
      
      Re email: I thought I responded to that yesterday…let me check again.
      - AP on July 30, 2008 at 11:50 am
        
        No worries–that means I haven’t checked my e-mail yet!
Isis on July 30, 2008 at 11:42 am

Over the weekend.

http://www.charlotte.com/local/story/732918.html

29-yr old African American male. Surprise.
robertdsc on July 30, 2008 at 1:44 pm

I recently finished reading Jeremy Scahill’s book on Blackwater USA. If you haven’t read it, go out and pick it up. It’s a scary story.
americanforliberty on July 30, 2008 at 2:43 pm

anyone think goldman sachs has a large position in Oil
: just

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=goldman+sachs+oil+reports&btnG=Google+Search

and here they are predicting high oil again after it jumped $5.00 dollars a barrel. I sure hope the Fed isn’t lending Goldman Sachs money to speculate on Oil.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080730/ap_on_bi_ge/oil_prices
- dada on July 30, 2008 at 2:56 pm
  
  well they’re betting heavily on $150 bbl as the baseline price by years’ end…and the fed today extended its emergency lending programs to Wall Street firms through January after policy makers judged that markets are still “fragile.”.
  
  so l guess your hopes are in vain.
  
  strange how that date so closely corresponds to end of the chimperor’s reign isn’t it?
  
  there’s no such thing as coincidence.
  - americanforliberty on July 30, 2008 at 3:14 pm
    
    yep, the stealing from the American Public ends mid January 2009.
    - americanforliberty on July 30, 2008 at 3:30 pm
      
      ps. I kinda like this report from 2007 saying prices shouldn’t jump if OPEC keeps production levels the same.
      
      http://www.cnbc.com/id/19790088
ARGeezer on July 30, 2008 at 3:56 pm

“Covered Bonds” been in the news of late. I came upon a link to the London Banker blog excerpt below via a link in Tom Petruno‘s blog in the LA Times.

Friday, 25 July 2008
What’s up with the covered bond push?
-skip-
Whenever Henry Paulson at Treasury, Ben Bernanke at the Fed and Shiela Bair at FDIC agree on anything, American taxpayers should check for their wallets to see if they are being mugged….

….Covered bonds allow for extension of credit to a bank SIV or trust that will be serviced by income from hypothecated assets on the bank’s balance sheet. The assets stay on the bank’s balance sheet unless there is a default on the bonds, at which time the assets are forfeit as collateral to the trust vehicle servicing the covered bond.

Last week the FDIC released a policy statement on covered bonds that provides for “expedited release of collateral” if an issuing bank is taken into FDIC receivership or liquidation. The Treasury is expected to release a protocol on best practices for covered bond issuance in a high profile event next week. Hmmmm. What could be up?

If I had to guess, I suspect what we will soon see is something near to the following scenario:

Lists will circulate of troubled banks likely to go into FDIC receivership….

Several of the central players in the recent market dramas … will go strong and aggressive for the covered bond market. They will go around to their list of troubled banks… They will issue covered bonds to these trouble banks against any assets with real, proveable value left on the banks’ balance sheets. They will be praised to the heavens by their friends in Washington as providing timely and necessary liquidity to a troubled banking system, proving the efficiency of the free market, bravely bearing the risk of new credit in exchange for troubled bank assets.

When the troubled bank nonetheless fails, our golden circle creditors get the good collateral in an expedited release from FDIC under its new policy statement. The FDIC is left with all the toxic waste assets and liability for depositor insurance claims, with no prospect of recovery of any value from the insolvent bank liquidation.

-skip-

When the FDIC itself becomes insolvent, which it surely must do as this game gets played to its obvious outcome, then the FDIC gets a GSE-style bailout via Treasury finance and the poor taxpayers get reamed again.

I came upon a link to the London Banker blog excerpt below via a link in Tom Petruno’s blog in the LA Times.

Friday, 25 July 2008
What’s up with the covered bond push?
-skip-
Whenever Henry Paulson at Treasury, Ben Bernanke at the Fed and Shiela Bair at FDIC agree on anything, American taxpayers should check for their wallets to see if they are being mugged….

….Covered bonds allow for extension of credit to a bank SIV or trust that will be serviced by income from hypothecated assets on the bank’s balance sheet. The assets stay on the bank’s balance sheet unless there is a default on the bonds, at which time the assets are forfeit as collateral to the trust vehicle servicing the covered bond.

Last week the FDIC released a policy statement on covered bonds that provides for “expedited release of collateral” if an issuing bank is taken into FDIC receivership or liquidation. The Treasury is expected to release a protocol on best practices for covered bond issuance in a high profile event next week. Hmmmm. What could be up?

If I had to guess, I suspect what we will soon see is something near to the following scenario:

Lists will circulate of troubled banks likely to go into FDIC receivership….

Several of the central players in the recent market dramas … will go strong and aggressive for the covered bond market. They will go around to their list of troubled banks… They will issue covered bonds to these trouble banks against any assets with real, proveable value left on the banks’ balance sheets. They will be praised to the heavens by their friends in Washington as providing timely and necessary liquidity to a troubled banking system, proving the efficiency of the free market, bravely bearing the risk of new credit in exchange for troubled bank assets.

When the troubled bank nonetheless fails, our golden circle creditors get the good collateral in an expedited release from FDIC under its new policy statement. The FDIC is left with all the toxic waste assets and liability for depositor insurance claims, with no prospect of recovery of any value from the insolvent bank liquidation.

-skip-

When the FDIC itself becomes insolvent, which it surely must do as this game gets played to its obvious outcome, then the FDIC gets a GSE-style bailout via Treasury finance and the poor taxpayers get reamed again.
RandyH on July 31, 2008 at 3:17 am

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BooMan

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