Monday, July 28, 2008

CUI BONO

The federal government's rescue of Fannie and Freddie has a lot of small-minded people scratching their heads over why Treasury Secretary Paulson did not allow the two GSEs to go belly up.

Think. No, think hard. Really hard.

Who loses if Fannie and Freddie go belly up? And don't give me that crock about how the American taxpayer ultimately loses if Fannie and Freddie die--that is the front, not the truth. If you bought that, you are beyond STUPID. You are on par with a pet rock in the department of intelligence.

Here's the skinny.

China, America's secondary creditor, owns $376 billion of Fannie and Freddie bonds.

America owes China $502 billion.

China wants its interests protected, and since America owes China a ton of money, their interests are America's interests.

Thus, letting Fannie and Freddie fall flat on their face was NEVER an option.

Did you think Paulson did this on a whim?! This is not a simple matter of free market capitalism vs. command and control economic intervention. This is a matter of the relationship between debtor and creditor. That power structure looks like this:

Creditor/Debtor

where the denominator is the one getting fucked. Are we crystal?

Shylock said, "I'll have my bond. Speak not against my bond.
I have sworn an oath that I will have my bond."

That's all that is. Go read the Bard.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

8-8-8

Look forward to an essay to be posted on 8-8-08. If the date is meaningless to you, then here is a hint: