From Roberta. About upping the DeeCee credit limit. Condensed good sense on the current Washington goat rope:
"Why should I "eat my peas" when Feds have been swimming in ice cream?
.
Jul 28, 2011
Jul 27, 2011
Son of a Fitch but I'm Moody this morning
You may never have heard of Foxen, Henhouse, and Scroom. It's a credit rating agency without a PR department. Like its famous competitors -- Moody's. S&P. Fitch -- its makes its money telling the world about the relative risk of investments.
Now everyone is horrified that the agencies are about to say U.S. Treasury bonds, bills, and notes are marginally more risky just because President Obama can't borrow a pot to piss in.
I hope it is not insensitive of me to remark that these are the same credit experts who awarded an AAA rating to your crazy brother-in-law's McMansion mortgage the day before he whipped out his MasterCard and bought one-way tickets (one for the stripper) to Cancun. (cf. CDOS, CMOs etc.)
So, why in Hell are we so worried at the thought of these guys saying, "Uncle Sam is spending himself into bankruptcy?"
Isn't that the same thing you and I have have saying since -- I dunno -- maybe since before Doris Day got to be a virgin?
Foxen, Henhouse & Scroom operates just like the other agencies. The debt issuer pays their fees, and of course no company would think of shopping around for a ratings agency which would, in return for its fee, fudge its opinion.
That's where the agencies differ from you and me. We don't t charge a dime for telling Washington it's operating like a Three Stooges movie policed by the Keystone Kops.
Now everyone is horrified that the agencies are about to say U.S. Treasury bonds, bills, and notes are marginally more risky just because President Obama can't borrow a pot to piss in.
I hope it is not insensitive of me to remark that these are the same credit experts who awarded an AAA rating to your crazy brother-in-law's McMansion mortgage the day before he whipped out his MasterCard and bought one-way tickets (one for the stripper) to Cancun. (cf. CDOS, CMOs etc.)
So, why in Hell are we so worried at the thought of these guys saying, "Uncle Sam is spending himself into bankruptcy?"
Isn't that the same thing you and I have have saying since -- I dunno -- maybe since before Doris Day got to be a virgin?
Foxen, Henhouse & Scroom operates just like the other agencies. The debt issuer pays their fees, and of course no company would think of shopping around for a ratings agency which would, in return for its fee, fudge its opinion.
That's where the agencies differ from you and me. We don't t charge a dime for telling Washington it's operating like a Three Stooges movie policed by the Keystone Kops.
Jul 26, 2011
A failed diplomacy
An adult in the room was attempting to help Washington folks stop kicking the can down the road. He wanted them to achieve the big deal through a balanced approach. He was particularly good at spying out the court which contained the ball.
He did all that and more for weeks, calmly, tolerantly, smiling through the mist of sputum from one hundred thousand frothing partisan lips.
But then the desperate emperor and his knights whined, one time too many, "This should be routine! For fifty years we have routinely raised the debt limit whenever we wanted bribe another voting block or two."
Our honest broker snapped, lost it, screamed, "That's how we got here in the first place you sorry slabheaded sons of bitches." Then he left, leaving behind an adult-free room.
Poor fellow. He was last seen trudging outbound across Memorial Bridge, bindle over his shoulder. As he approached white crosses and six-pointed stars of The Cemetery he was heard to mumble something like, "So sorry guys . Some of us tried to make it worthwhile for you."
He did all that and more for weeks, calmly, tolerantly, smiling through the mist of sputum from one hundred thousand frothing partisan lips.
But then the desperate emperor and his knights whined, one time too many, "This should be routine! For fifty years we have routinely raised the debt limit whenever we wanted bribe another voting block or two."
Our honest broker snapped, lost it, screamed, "That's how we got here in the first place you sorry slabheaded sons of bitches." Then he left, leaving behind an adult-free room.
Poor fellow. He was last seen trudging outbound across Memorial Bridge, bindle over his shoulder. As he approached white crosses and six-pointed stars of The Cemetery he was heard to mumble something like, "So sorry guys . Some of us tried to make it worthwhile for you."
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