More Stuff to take Our Minds off Iraq

Barron's, via The Big Picture, has a nice piece on the true architect of the current credit mess, the "Maestro" (eventually to also be known as "worst Fed Chairman ever"), Alan Greenspan.



Fortunately, now we've got another genius running the show, Ben Bernanke. He's book-smart.



Speaking of geniuses, Goldman Sachs is run by some really smart guys supposedly. That said, their largest hedge fund has dropped by about 40% since 2006, according to Bloomberg. I wonder how the stupid managers are doing.



Sudden Debt as usual explains the world in plain English:

First, let's dispense with two common misconceptions - or outright lies, if you prefer:

1. It is not a "US subprime credit crunch", but a credit crunch, period. The trouble surfaced first at low-quality mortgage loans because that was the weakest in a long series of weak links. The problem, taken as a whole, is too much debt assumed by too many borrowers who cannot hope to service it without relying on constantly higher asset prices. In other words, it is a classic asset-credit bubble, only this time it is not contained within one country but it spans nearly the entire globe.


2. Liquidity is not a stash of cash sitting in an account, looking for assets to buy. Liquidity is (a) access to reasonably cheap credit and (b) the ability to sell assets at reasonable prices, quickly and in size.

...as does the excellent train-wreck-in-progress chronicler The Housing Bubble Blog.

And if next week is as fun as last, the Market Ticker is the place to keep up on the action. In a nutshell, here's their assessment of the financial markets' situation:

Perhaps Cramer will kill himself live on CNBC this week (and maybe take Maria and Erin with him). Anyway, I would think you could do worse than own Berkshire Hathaway, gold, the Yen and cash 'til this thing sorts out in a week or decade or so.