Friday, March 27, 2009

Three Helicopters

FASTEN YOUR SEAT BELTS, IT'S GOING TO BE A BUMPY RIDE

Reference.

There is helicopter Ben (Benanke). He drops money and doesn't want to talk about on whom the manna is falling (whether it is Bear Stearns today, or not, or Lehman - that's ... a ground job).

Alan Greenspan says that there is $850+ billion more to go. Depending on how you think that is (or should be) spread around, any one of the above is "correct". Fasten your seatbelts, it will be, literally, the ride of your lifetime, most likely!
There is helicopter Larry (Summers). He believes that, if you fly too high, you get burned, so he keeps his altitude.

There is helicopter Paul (Krugman). He sees the chessboard from a higher altitude and wants to move mountains (or dismantle the Frankenstein that he sees).

Alan Greenspan says that there is $850+ billion more to go. Depending on how you think that is (or should be) spread around, any one of the above is "correct". Fasten your seatbelts, it will be, literally, the ride of your lifetime, most likely, even from March, 2009, onwards!

For the record, if there is a bias in thought to be demonstrated, I doubt it is a belief akin to a 'market mystique'. If it's anything tangible, it may be a cultural thing or the proximity of having been a regulator, the protective and curative attitude of having had banks as part of your liege.

On the other hand, there may be no bias, because some people do have superior, 'inside' information from bank examiner's reports ...

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