The Iranian election becomes another election mess.  The American (the first edition) version requires a Supreme Court to give a final answer.  Iranian one?  A Supreme Leader gives a final say.  And the Supreme Leader says the incumbent wins. In a situation like, just like the American original version, a decision made by that few individuals, the decision is ultimately political, whatever the cloak it is actually.  In the American original version, it is under the cloak of law.  In the Irani... Read Full Story

Obama administration is finally using anti-trust as a treatment for “Too big to fail”.  That is exactly what this blog asked for: http://poweranddollar.com/2009/03/27/anyone-understands-geithner/ Had Bush used this treatment during his time, systematic risk could have been reduced, although not eliminated nor sufficiently managed.  Did Sherman and Clayton (as in Sherman and Clayton Acts, the anti-trust legislations) have systematic risk in mind?  Certainly not.  However, they were more in the... Read Full Story

The author (John Feehery) of this CNN commentary is a political operative, lobbyist, etc.  He makes his living by using his access to the Republicans.  When Republicans are in disarray, so is his livelihood.  In order to drum up more business, he has to encourage his potential customers to spend money in Republicans.  This article is very consistent in his message about “bottom out”.  He also points out very explicitly that political entrepreneurs will see opportunities.  He is also very good... Read Full Story

  This swine flu became a real political event: California declared a state of emergency; Homeland Security is making moves; Obama is making another TV appearance again.  It so far looks like the market is reacting to the Fed statement rather than this health event.  Banks are up for 3%, S&P are 2% and medical supplies are only up 1.7%.  It is almost a drag in the market today.  With this swine flu, manufacturers and distributors of over the counter medical supplies are of interests for p... Read Full Story

Is Obama ready to re-start the Nuremberg Trials?  Or forget Dufar trail in ICC?  His decision of not prosecuting CIA officers employs the “I am only following orders” argument which is the exact defense employed during the Nuremberg Trials.  Obama’s goal is to protect the civil servants, i.e. to preserve their loyalty to his administration, future Democratic presidents, future presidents in general.  Obama transferred a legal issue (defending the officers in court) to a political issue and ma... Read Full Story

Many countries (Russia, India, China, …) talk about multi-polar world.  Some think this financial crisis marks the end of American unilateralism.  This G20 probably is not that marker.  However, this G20 is going toward the direction of containing political risks within America.   However, these countries did get some concessions from this G20.  The news release from this G20 news release gives us some ideas what concessions are:   More voting power will be allocated to the other countries, a... Read Full Story

Little reaction (criticism, actually) is out there considering the scale of Geithner’s proposal unless everyone is used to the lack of details from Obama Administration and is waiting for the real deal or no one understood what just happened. The financial weapons of mass destructions, along with aggressive and unethical lending practices, lack of regulation in some areas (say appraisal), + many more are to blame. Geithner’s solutions reacted to them. However, no one really asked if Geithner’... Read Full Story

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE52O6JP20090325?sp=true   Geithner had a hearing, not quite an announcement on future regulation framework.  And you cannot get much out of a hearing.  So, if you were looking for a pdf of details that can help you get a feeling if Citi (NYSE:C) will get more oversight versus Northern Trust (NASDAQ:NTRS) or Union Bank of California, then sorry.   This is the best article I can come up with so far:  http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE52O... Read Full Story

  Geithner announced the Detox plan.  Stocks went up for a great deal.  Investors probably are hungry for any positive headlines and don’t really want to read the content.  AP writes that the taxpayers will actually fund 93% of the purchase.  Krugman of course slams it like the first time he read it when it actually is the same plan half a year ago.  In a way, why does Krugman write as if it were a surprise to him?    Gergen writes much more succinctly than what I did yesterday (and Eurasia ... Read Full Story

  I agree quite a few points of this article in regard to the AIG episode.   Of course, nothing is perfect.  I would change a word here: “It will certainly make Mr. Obama’s task much more difficult when he tries to sell the public [my version would be:  investors] on his administration’s ability to manage the rest of the bailout, and when he tries to sell private firms on the public-private partnership that will be needed to make the recovery work.”   Obama will have more difficu... Read Full Story