Japan! Japan! Japan! and more Japan! Followed by a Yeats Quote!

Over all, the effect was to kick the can down the road. And that’s not good enough. So far the Obama administration’s response to the economic crisis is all too reminiscent of Japan in the 1990s: a fiscal expansion large enough to avert the worst, but not enough to kick-start recovery; support for the banking system, but a reluctance to force banks to face up to their losses. It’s early days yet, but we’re falling behind the curve.

And I don’t know about you, but I’ve got a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach — a feeling that America just isn’t rising to the greatest economic challenge in 70 years. The best may not lack all conviction, but they seem alarmingly willing to settle for half-measures. And the worst are, as ever, full of passionate intensity, oblivious to the grotesque failure of their doctrine in practice. Krugman

It's Socialism! Our Banks Are Solid! Kinda like Cherry Jello...

The Swedish government took tough steps in 1992 and Washington did so in 1987 to 1989 to overcome the savings and loan crisis.

“The historical record shows that you have to do it eventually,” said Adam S. Posen, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. “Putting it off only brings more troubles and higher costs in the long run.”

Of course, the Obama administration’s stimulus plan could help to spur economic recovery in a timely manner and the value of the banks’ assets could begin to rise.

Absent that, the prescription would not be easy or cheap. Estimates of the capital injection needed in the United States range to $1 trillion and beyond. By contrast, the commitment of taxpayer money is the $350 billion remaining in the financial bailout approved by Congress last fall.

Meanwhile, the loss estimates keep mounting.

Nouriel Roubini, a professor of economics at the Stern School of Business at New York University, has been both pessimistic and prescient about the gathering credit problems. In a new report, Mr. Roubini estimates that total losses on loans by American financial firms and the fall in the market value of the assets they hold will reach $3.6 trillion, up from his previous estimate of $2 trillion.

Of the total, he calculates that American banks face half that risk, or $1.8 trillion, with the rest borne by other financial institutions in the United States and abroad.

“The United States banking system is effectively insolvent,” Mr. Roubini said.

For its part, the banking industry bridles at such broad-brush analysis. The industry defines solvency bank by bank, and uses the value of a bank’s assets as they are carried on its books rather than the market prices calculated by economists. More

Under the Sea 3D (2009)

Under the Sea 3D (2009)
February 13, 2009
Oceans of Fun
By STEPHEN HOLDEN
Published: February 13, 2009

No computer-designed animatronic invention can begin to match the beauty and grace of the oceanic life photographed in “Under the Sea 3D,” a visually enthralling 40-minute tour of the southwestern Pacific depths. The journey begins at the Coral Triangle in Papua New Guinea, then moves to Cape Catastrophe in South Australia and on to the Great Barrier Reef. More

Sweden! !Japan

Japan, Sweden Hold Bailout Lessons for US
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: February 13, 2009

Filed at 5:34 a.m. ET

TOKYO (AP) -- As the U.S. grapples with its banking crisis, President Barack Obama is pointing to Sweden and Japan as offering lessons for what the United States should -- and shouldn't -- do.

Both faced banking crises in the 1990s, but reacted differently.

Sweden moved quickly, nationalizing two banks and setting up an asset management company to take over bad debt. In contrast, Japan waited seven years before getting serious about bailing out its banks. The result: a ''lost decade'' of economic stagnation -- a fate the U.S. president says America must avoid.

On the surface, Sweden ''looks like a good model,'' Obama said at his first prime-time news conference Monday. But he cautioned that drawing parallels had limits: Sweden's banking sector is far smaller and the country's culture embraces a greater economic role for government.

Of Japan, Obama said: ''They kept on trying to paper over the problems. The markets sort of stayed up because the Japanese government kept on pumping money in. But eventually, nothing happened and they didn't see any growth whatsoever.''More

Yep! Sez it all!

Daily Kos Research 2000 tracker: Obama's favorable rating has plunged from 69 to 68. When we started in Jan, it was 67. Then we had an inaugural bounce. We are doomed. This must be good for John McCain. And, check out them Congressional GOPs!

What Time Is It?

It's auto-da- fe time for Michael Philips! He's cute! He'll look good burning, and we can all forget about the financial unpleasantness until the ashes grow cold!

2/13/09

It's exciting when a video driver crashes with two monitors. The stuff you want to save is always on the other monitor, you know, the one that isn't working, oh as a guess, because the video driver blew out.