Akkam’s Razor

Make no mistake, it is coming. They are clearly in panic mode [nakedcapitalism via Economist's View]:

“We have lost control,” said Hale, quoting [Federal Reserve Chairman] Bernanke. “We cannot stabilize the dollar. We cannot control commodity prices.”

(Please note that they really could never control it anyway, regardless).

The NYT says:

The head of the Treasury and the Federal Reserve began discussions on Thursday with Congressional leaders on what could become the biggest bailout in United States history. While details remain to be worked out, the plan is likely to authorize the government to buy distressed mortgages at deep discounts from banks and other institutions. The proposal could result in the most direct commitment of taxpayer funds so far in the financial crisis that Fed and Treasury officials say is the worst they have ever seen.

A couple of semesters ago, I read a Businessweek article on Home Depot then-CEO Bob Nardelli’s plan to turn around Home Depot.  BW glowingly reported on Nardelli’s personnel changes and differing style, with his strong preference for hiring former-military persons in key rolls.  Anecdotally speaking, a masters program classmate who was also a Naval Academy graduate mentioned that Home Depot had indeed made a push for hiring employees who were formerly Officer Grade to run their stores, casting the opportunity as entrepreneurial.  Businessweek gave several hints as to what was coming in their description of Nardelli’s style:

At the very bottom of recent stories announcing the need for expanded staffing at the FDIC by 60%, with an emphasis of recruiting S&L Crisis veterans (WSJ, subscription required), was a sentence stating the following:

There are 76 banks on the FDIC’s “problem institutions” list - which would equate to about 10 expected bank failures this year. About six banks fail per year on average, FDIC officials said.

• At 85, Howard Zinn turns to comics - Boston.com
  Considerably abridged from the original text, the book has been blurbed by Ben Affleck, who calls the graphic form “ingenious.”
  (tags: book story graphicnovel history radical)
• Dynamic Maps of Nonprime Mortgage Conditions in the United States
  (tags: maps finance realestate mortgage subprime housing economics)
• The Myth of the Media Myth: Games and Non-Gamers | MetaFilter [IRL, reviewed as a MMO Game]
  On the whole, Outside is overrated, and many gamers will find themselves forced by friends and family to play it against their will, but it still deserves a high rating. I give it 7/10, and look forward to improvements in future patches.
  (tags: games funny gaming humor metafilter videogames review)

• The Job Loss Caused by John McCain
  Hey, a $35BB [military airplane tanker] contract went overseas [and not to Boeing], evidently via the influence of John McCain, and I want some straight talk from the man. Is anyone in the media awake?
  (tags: boeing EADS Airbus johnmccain 2008 election president)
• Cultural sustainability - Marketing & Strategy Innovation Blog
  To me, the idea of “cultural sustainability” is about companies whose actions offset the consequences of their presence (or disappearance).
  (tags: ecomics culture cultutalsustainability business)

• Culture Speeds Up Human Evolution: Scientific American
  Analysis of common patterns of genetic variation reveals that humans have been evolving faster in recent history
  (tags: evolution biology science genetics culture race reference)
• A ‘Moral Hazard’ for a Housing Bailout: Sorting the Victims From Those Who Volunteered - New York Times
  A rescue would also create a “moral hazard,” many experts contend, by encouraging banks and home buyers to take outsize risks in the future, in the expectation of another government bailout if things go wrong again.
  (tags: bank crisis subprime bailout rescue moralhazard)

• The Economist: The End Of Cheap Food
  economist.com — Rising food prices are a threat to many; they also present the world with an enormous opportunity
  (tags: food Economy economics Agriculture politics energy poverty)
• John Grisham’s Next Book to be About Election Fraud
  nytimes.com — The Appeal
  ” is John Grisham’s handy primer on a timely subject: how to rig an election. Blow by blow, this not-very-fictitious-sounding novel depicts the tactics by which political candidates either can be propelled or ambushed and t
  (tags: election fraud fiction nonfiction johngrisham)
• ‘Liberal Fascism’: The response - Orcinus
  (tags: Fascism jonahgolberg liberalfacism)

Strangely enough, it appears that the extreme reactions in the overnight trades in Europe and Asia were not due to their fears over our (legitimately) precarious economy, but rather the moves of a single trader at Societe Generale SA was responsible for a $7 billion dollar loss [WSJ via Marc Andreson]:

Early details, including accounts from executives at the French bank, paint a picture of an ordinary trader (Jérôme Kerviel) who used extraordinary means to game the bank’s own system and hide massive unauthorized trades on stock indexes. Even as bank executives were scrambling to deal with the trail of destruction, they were at a loss to describe his motivations. Société Générale executives said that the early investigation indicated the trader didn’t earn a dime on his actions. They also said he appeared to be acting alone.