USA Trading Corp., LLC

From WSJ:

Sen. Dodd's plan wouldn't allow the Treasury Department to purchase any assets "unless the Secretary receives contingent shares in the financial institution from which such assets are to be purchased equal in value to the purchase price of the assets to be purchased."

Although this idea seems both fair and reasonable, it also happens to defeat the core purpose of the proposed action. The whole idea is to take assets so toxic that they run the risk of sinking otherwise large, well financed companies; if the government takes the assets and equivalent equity they may as well allow the assets to fail, as it is said assets causing failure risk in the first place. If the companies had enough money to finance these assets, they would not be toxic and would not require government intervention.

UPDATE: I was unwittingly making an argument similar to one posted earlier on Naked Capitalism.

UPDATE II: Paul Krugman does a nice job of simplifying the (il)logic involved here:

...the prices of many assets, not just those the Treasury proposes to buy, are under pressure. And even if the vicious circle is limited, the financial system will still be crippled by inadequate capital.Or rather, it will be crippled by inadequate capital unless the federal government hugely overpays for the assets it buys, giving financial firms — and their stockholders and executives — a giant windfall at taxpayer expense.

UPDATE III: George Will asks:

The political left always aims to expand the permeation of economic life by politics. Today, the efficient means to that end is government control of capital. So, is not McCain's party now conducting the most leftist administration in American history?

Kinda just trying this out

But here's a link about Opus Dei getting their feet wet in neuroscience.


Gee, I hope their "spiritual" research really contributes to the field.

Hitchens Reviews Book on French Politics

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/21/books/review/Hitchens-t.html?ref=todayspaper

George Will (of all people) Slams McCain

George Will:

I suppose the McCain campaign's hope is that when there's a big crisis, people will go for age and experience. The question is, who in this crisis looked more presidential, calm and un-flustered? It wasn't John McCain who, as usual, substituting vehemence for coherence, said 'let's fire somebody.' And picked one of the most experienced and conservative people in the administration, Chris Cox, and for no apparent reason...It was un-presidential behavior by a presidential candidate...John McCain showed his personality this week, and made some of us fearful.

Say What !!!

Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.

— the bailout law (via Naked Capitalism &c.)

Next Week is Banned Book Week

From The Nation:

As we commemorate Banned Books Week September 27-October 4, we are reminded of the many attempts to restrict our right to read. Over 400 challenges filed at schools and libraries were reported last year alone, most probably constituting a fraction of incidents nationwide. The culprits, whether public officials, private interests or "decency" groups, employ a variety of techniques to control free expression. Our best defense against these censors is the vigilance and activism of people concerned with protecting free expression. Those on the front lines of these battles have learned to arm themselves with sound policies and procedures that ensure a fair and transparent review process.

McCain's Economic Plan Vs. Obama's

This gem and others from Frank Rich's always worth reading NYT op-ed:

Whatever blanks are yet to be filled in on Obama, we at least know his economic plans and the known quantities who are shaping them (Lawrence Summers, Robert Rubin, Paul Volcker). McCain has reversed himself on every single economic issue this year, often within a 24-hour period, whether he’s judging the strength of the economy’s fundamentals or the wisdom of the government bailout of A.I.G. He [McCain] once promised that he’d run every decision past Alan Greenspan — and even have him write a new tax code — but Greenspan has jumped ship rather than support McCain’s biggest flip-flop, his expansion of the Bush tax cuts. McCain’s official chief economic adviser is now Douglas Holtz-Eakin, who last week declared that McCain had “helped create” the BlackBerry.

But Holtz-Eakin’s most telling statement was about McCain’s economic plans — namely, that the details are irrelevant. “I don’t think it’s imperative at this moment to write down what the plan should be,” he said. “The real issue here is a leadership issue.” This, too, is a Rove-Bush replay. We want a tough guy who will “fix” things with his own two hands — let’s take out the S.E.C. chairman! — instead of wimpy Frenchified Democrats who just “talk.” The fine print of policy is superfluous if there’s a quick-draw decider in the White House.