Sheldon Richman rips the bank bailout at the American Conservative:
Here in the land of the theoretically free, as Mencken called America, the central government is about to become part-owner of the nine largest banks and many smaller ones, too. It will acquire dividend-paying preferred stock in return for “injecting” cash into the allegedly seized-up capital [...]
Times are tough for Americans, unless you are a government employee (via the WaPo):
Hurry, hurry, hurry. There still may be seats available on a spectacular U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service trip that will send 28, that’s twenty-eight, senior officials to Mexico for a week of post-election R and R. It includes a tour of the [...]
The Fed’s balance sheet continues to expand:
Oct. 30 (Bloomberg) — The Federal Reserve bought commercial paper valued at $145.7 billion in the first days of the program aimed at backstopping the market, indicating the central bank is generating most of this week’s record gains in short-term corporate borrowing.
The central bank extended $144.8 billion of loans [...]
According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, US gross domestic product - the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States - contracted for the first time since the 4th quarter in 2007. In the latest quarter, GDP fell 0.3%, after a 2.8% gain in the previous quarter. The number, [...]
