SAR #9092

Dance.

Someone's always to blame: Banks blaming mark-to-market for their troubles is much like blaming the National Weather Service for Katrina. The bad loans were bad loans before anybody from the outside mentioned it, and they'll be bad loans even if they get shoved back under the rug. Take your umbrella.

Listed: 50 truths for our times. Well, nearly 50 truths, some seem a little preachy.

Another Non-worry: Some are wringing their hands over the possiblity that the Fed may lose its political independence. And this would be a bad thing how? I'd rather see the Fed gain its independence from Wall Street. Go team.

What we learned from the Exxon Valdez: That if you're big enough you can get away with anything. That the courts exist to help the rich screw over the little guys without apology or embarrassment.

Wish I'd Said That: "The media are busy perpetuating a myth that the United States has been a beacon of "free market" capitalism. This is a lie. The United States never had free market capitalism and certainly the system in place over the last three decades hardly qualifies."

En Garde: In April elements of the Iowa National Guard will spend 4 days in door to door searches and vehicular searches at road blocks, and engage in other intelligence gathering exercises looking for a suspected weapons dealer who will be arrested late in the afternoon of the fourth day. If captured earlier he will be released, the Guard will count to 100 and the search will begin again. What is it they are really practicing for?

Paying the Band: The Bush Obama administration wants the Supreme Court to tell New York that it can't enforce fair-lending laws on banks like JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo because they are licensed to engage in fraud and usury by federal regulators.