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Yearly Archives: 2008

TheHill.com – Soros floats alternative bailout plan with Dems

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Here’s an interesting idea from George Soros. Instead of the current bailout plan, he suggests getting troubled banks to issue enough extra stock to recapitalize them, with the stock being bought by the government. This would restore balance to their accounts (with extra cash on hand they wouldn’t be so extended, and their balance sheets wouldn’t be so dominated by bad loans), punish shareholders who were supposed to be risking something in return for their rewards by diluting the value of their shareholdings, and give the government a concrete investment that is more likely to make it a return in the long run than the current plan.

I’ve no idea if there’s some huge flaw in the argument, beyond the fact that the banks probably won’t like it, but it certainly appears to have merit. Unfortunately it’s from Soros, so the Republicans probably won’t like it either, and right now that’s a bad thing.

Apple set for decline, apparently

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Via Wired:

Another reason for the Apple selloff: Two banks (Morgan Stanley and RBC Capital) cut their ratings on the stock.

“First, PC unit growth is decelerating and the remaining source of growth is increasingly in the sub-$1,000 marker, where Apple does not play” said Morgan Stanley analyst Kathryn Huberty, in a published note.

Oh if only there was some way Apple could lower the cost of their computers somehow. Obviously it sells the Mac Mini for less than $1,000 (even with added bling), but that doesn’t count because, um, it’s too small to be a real PC. And the news is grim on the laptop front, where the MacBook starts at $1099; there’s no way Apple could find room in its famously hefty margins to cut $100 off that. Looks like Apple is doomed.

Or maybe Morgan Stanley employ a bunch of shaved monkeys, and that’s why they’re doing so well at the moment.

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Chemical irritant empties Islamic Society of Greater Dayton’s mosque

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The Dayton Daily News has a story about a terrorist attack on a mosque in Ohio. Entirely coincidentally, an anti-Muslim DVD was distributed to thousands of households in Ohio earlier in the week.

Daily Kos has an email account of the attack:

She told me that the gas was sprayed into the room where the babies and children were being kept while their mothers prayed together their Ramadan prayers. Panicked mothers ran for their babies, crying for their children so they could flee from the gas that was burning their eyes and throats and lungs. She grabbed her youngest in her arms and grabbed the hand of her other daughter, moving with the others to exit the building and the irritating substance there.

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Prescient, if perhaps Obvious

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Cringely reposts an excerpt from a post of his that appeared two days after 9/11. Right now it seems obvious, but I don’t know if it seemed that way then:

‘To a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail,’ wrote Mark Twain. In the current context this means that the organizations charged with reacting to this catastrophe will do so by doing what they have always done, only more of it. Congress, which controls the budget and passes laws, will want to pass laws and to allocate more money, lots of money, forgetting completely about any campaign promises. The military, which is the nation’s enforcer, will want to use force, if only they can find a foe. The intelligence community, which gathers information, will want to be even more energetic in that gathering, no matter what the cost to the privacy of the millions of us who aren’t thinking of terrorist acts. And agencies like the Federal Aviation Administration, which regulate, will want to create more stringent regulations. Now here is an important point to be remembered: All these parties will want to do these things WHETHER THEY ARE WARRANTED OR USEFUL OR NOT.