» Posted by Martin Weil on August 19, 2010

Pointer from The Big Picture

» Posted by Martin Weil on August 11, 2010

What we had was a government-prescribed course of amphetamines (to keep it up), antibiotics (to prevent infection) and antidepressants (to make it feel better). It endured regular steroid injections from both monetary and fiscal authorities. And it still has no real muscle.

Caroline Baum on Bloomberg

» Posted by Martin Weil on August 04, 2010

Bill Gates and Warren Buffett have spearheaded a successful effort to get America's billionaires to commit to leaving at least 1/2 their fortunes to charitable ends at their deaths. 40 of 80 individuals they contacted, with a combined net worth of $230 billion, agreed. Michael Bloomberg, Larry Ellison, George Lucas and Ted Turner were among those who signed on.

Let's hope the persuasive Buffett & Gates duo are able to reel in the other 40 on their lists, and the estimated 320 more US billionaires with additional assets of some $1 trillion. They can certainly use the "Quote of the Day" posted just below.

» Posted by Martin Weil on August 03, 2010

It's a wise man who lives with money in the bank; it's a fool who dies that way.

French proverb

I rather like that. From The Big Picture.

» Posted by Martin Weil on August 03, 2010

According to a report released last week by Alan Blinder and Mark Zandi, advisers to President Bill Clinton and Senator John McCain, respectively, the combined actions since the fall of 2007 of the Federal Reserve, the White House and Congress helped save 8.5 million jobs and increased gross domestic product by 6.5 percent relative to what would have happened had we done nothing. The study showed that government action delivered a powerful bang for the buck, and that the bank rescue on its own will turn a profit for taxpayers.

This from Timothy Geithner's NYT OpEd. For all the criticisms of the economic policies of President Obama and Treasury Secretary Geithner (and their predecessors who bear much more of the blame), I have always held that they were operating under an extreme economic emergency and with inadequate information. They took unbelievably bold actions, many of which were imperfect at best. But, per two very respected economists, the decisive actions by the folks in Washington seem to have successfully averted second Great Depression.