Month: October 2008

New Economic Solution: Whining

I was wondering how Paulson throwing money at banks would unfreeze the credit market. Looks like the answer is whine until bankers can’t stand it anymore. Ridiculous. What’s next? Accuse banks of being anti-American unless they lend?

IMHO, it makes more sense to measure each bank’s lending practice and adjust central bank lending rate for the bank. In essence, it’s a measure of how much leverage a bank offers over US economy. I think it’s reasonable that banks that offer the government more control over US economy should get lower lending rate over those who offer less.

To banks, this change would just introduce a new business factor to consider instead of the political and bureaucratic mess being thrown at them now. Banks know how to deal with business problems, not the other.

Looking for the Bottom

Despite the long (well, sure felt long) decline and bounces, I am still all cash. Throughout the rollercoaster ride, there were many luring moment but none felt true because I don’t think it’s the bottom when people are still joking and ranting about the market. To me, it’s bottom when no one wants to talk about the market.

When? I think the start of the last leg of the journey is about to start. It’s kind of funny that, while people know what’s happening now is a global crisis, many don’t fully realize what that really means. Imagine what would happen when practically every aspect of world economy shrinks by 1/3. That’s what’s happening now in the stock markets which is, in essence, the mirror reflection of the business world.

The bottom will be where the reflection meets reality because people won’t be crying wolf anymore when it’s sitting right in front of them, drooling.

Media Bias Against McCain, Palin?

While I am solidly in Obama/Biden camp and see McCain/Palin’s recent attacks against Obama as disturbing trendwise, I am also disturbed by apparent general bias in the media against McCain and Palin. It’s not unlike tech media’s obsession with anything Apple makes.

What I am not sure about is whether the bias is in the selection of news media I consume or not. If yes, I should balance my news diet, consuming more from the ‘otherside’. If not, it’s amazing that Obama has only 5 percent lead over McCain. Either way, it’s annoying that objectivity in news is being decentralized to news consumers.