Rolfe Winkler
Option ARMageddon
Lunchtime Links 5-12
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New college loan rules put taxpayers at risk (Bennett, Forbes) New rules will make it easier for students to default on debt. It’s good to give them a way to escape debt slavery, but this is the wrong way to do it. Better to stop providing so much aid in the first place. It only serves to inflate a tuition bubble anyway.
U.S. investigating Morgan Stanley on CDOs (WSJ) It’s a criminal investigation, but it would be tough to bring criminal charges, since prosecutors need to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, as opposed to civil cases where they need only demonstrate a preponderance of the evidence against the defendant…
Thomson Reuters interested in buying Newsweek (DealBook)
Quick, run for the Goldschläger (Kaminska, Alphaville) The Germans and Swiss appear to be driving gold demand. Small wonder since the ECB is now going to monetize eurozone government debt by printing money to buy their bonds. Increased demand for gold coins and bars is a vote of no confidence in the euro. [It's at a new record of $1243 at this writing.]
In Greek debt crisis, some see parallels to the U.S. (Leonhardt, NYT) “Both [Greece and the U.S.] have a bigger government than they’re paying for. And politicians, spendthrift as some may be, are not the main source of the problem. We, the people, are.” Amen.
Rig disaster threatens drilling (Coy/Reed, Bloomberg)
Chart: U.S. trade gap hits 15 month high (Culp, Reuters) Exports were up, but imports were up more…
Coolest guy ever? (reddit, ht daytonamike) Motorcycle? Check. Headphones? Check. Cigar? Check. Parrot? Oh yeah.
We bustin’ out of this joint (imgur)
Heroic skydiving instructor saves life, is paralyzed (Hartman, CBS)
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““Both [Greece and the U.S.] have a bigger government than they’re paying for. And politicians, spendthrift as some may be, are not the main source of the problem. We, the people, are.” Amen.”
Amen squared. Our politicians are not imposed upon us by Martians. Somewhere along the line we got a political party that believed in borrowing to finance government programs. This was counter balanced by a political party that believed in reducing or not raising taxes. The vaulted “people” looked at the policy of something for nothing and said “I like it.”
Of course, we have a bunch of economists who justify making money out of thin air – which works…until it doesn’t.