Re-nationalization, high tariffs, Keynesian monetary and fiscal “policy”, and all the U.N.’s CEPAL recipe for disaster is back in Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Ecuador. Having to say a lot on the subject, let me just begin with Hugo Chavez’s proposal for an expiring, voucher-based currency.
Several months ago I detailed the corrupt foundations underlying the chaebol’s in Korea, it seems that Samsung (the grand daddy of them all) is being accused of: “mastermind[ing] a campaign to raise slush funds to pay prosecutors, judges and lawmakers and influence a high-profile court case.” And even if they are found innocent of these crimes, these conglomerates are all guilty of living at the expense of taxpayers (e.g., subsidies, artificially l
The crime of the century: Slugger Barry Bonds might have lied to a federal grand jury! For this he faces up to 30 years in prison. Sounds like he may get off easy since we simply cannot have people obstructing the valuable functions of government. Chaos would surely follow. 30 years isn’t enough.
Peter Eavis has an interesting piece on Fannie Mae and the way it changed how it discloses its bad loans. Fannie’s loss ratio appears to be escalating while Fannie’s management is spraying Chanel No. 5 on a rotted carcass. Fannie, with $40 billion of capital, is exposed to $74 billion on subprime loans and $196 billion in Alt-A loans.
See more on Fannie Mae here.
