Wall Street and Main Street

September 22, 2008 meeting.

Neither a borrower nor a lender be. Polonius in Hamlet

At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release. Deuteronomy 15

On Sunday 9/7, the U.S. government took control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Here are some links related to that and subsequent actions:

NPR update: The Week America's Economy Almost Died

NY Times: A Bailout Plan, but Will It All Work?, Bipartisan Support for Wall St. Rescue Plan Emerges

Newsweek: too international to fail

NY Times: As Crisis Grew, One Option Remained , Few Stand to Gain on This Bailout, and Many Lose, ’08 Rivals Have Ties to Loan Giants, What Created This Monster(Newsweek: credit default swaps), Freakonomics blog

Charlie Rose: BAILOUT featuring Dr. Doom, Nouriel Roubini

NPR: If Fannie And Freddie Had Failed, Fannie's Lesson: The Real Scandals Are Legal

PBS: 11 minute July segment, moral hazard, featuring Bird and Fortune

Scientific American: Economics in a Full World (original)

Slate: Daniel Mudd on Foreclosure, The Death of the Credit Card Economy

MSNBC: How Fannie and Freddie weren't reigned-in

Here's a year-ago online piece about the then federal effort to stem the foreclosure tide.

ethanol / California insurance surcharge

These topics were originally scheduled for September 22::

1. In the United States, as much as one-third of the maize crop this year will go to the gas tank and this is a huge blow to the world food supply.   Should we continue developing biofuels as an alternative to the use of oil?
   
2. Gov Schwarzenegger proposes a surcharge on property insurance statewide to defray the state's cost for fire protection and emergency response.  Should all taxpayers subsidize people who choose to live in fire-prone areas?  
   

Regarding item #1:

From my other blog: ethanol

Regarding item #2:

Press-Enterprise: Fire burdens