Washblog

In Case You're Not Paying Attention [Update 1]

You can read this article from Bloomberg:

Money-Market Rates Double Amid Global Credit Seizure

But you really only need this quote:

``I have never seen anything remotely like this. The money market was typically the one thing that always worked,'' said Luca Jellinek, head of interest-rate strategy in London at Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc. ``It's the cardiovascular system of the financial body. When this happens, it's like a heart attack.''

(2 comments, 238 words in story) Full Story

The Shotgun Blast Heard 'Round The World [Update 2]

[fp A.R.]

It Is Not Just Lehman Brothers - or Lehman and WaMu.

Apparently, bankers involved in the enormous talks to save Lehman Brothers are saying that the internal work of at least one firm indicates a non-zero probability that Washington Mutual, AIG Insurance and Merrill Lynch could fold WITHIN THE WEEK - individually or separately. As for the dependability of this work, I can only say that the same firm, analyzing the effect of Bear Stearns, reportedly concluded that if that investment bank had not been rescued, Lehman Brothers would follow Bear into bankruptcy within a short time, followed by Merrill. This was considered too dour a forecast by many at the time. Apparently it wasn't gloomy enough.

Jim Cramer may soon get an answer to his question:
"When Will This Market Crack?"

(2 comments, 720 words in story) Full Story

JP Morgan To Buy WaMu???

Thanks to PVD, for this. That was really nice. Now is JP Morgan being nice - or naughty? If true, it's great news. We're still on a rough road, but it may not be quite so bumpy.

WASHINGTON - JPMorgan Chase & Co. is in advanced discussions to buy
Washington Mutual, sources said Friday.

While a deal has not been struck, and could fall apart, sources said
negotiations are ongoing at the highest levels of both companies,
including James Dimon, the chairman and chief executive of JPMorgan, and
Alan Fishman, the newly-installed CEO of Wamu.

(416 words in story) Full Story

Discovered! : The Secret Obama-Palin Letters.

My childhood friend Jim Windolf scores an unbelievable scoop for Vanity Fair.

(57 words in story) Full Story

Fannie/Freddie Bailout / WaMu May Close Its Doors. [Updated Again!]

[Front paged: NM}

And Jim Cramer is out today saying that Washington Mutual SHOULD close. Emphasis mine, but...wow. I was not expecting THAT. I'm not sure I agree, but as many of you will have read, WaMu yesterday fired CEO Kerry Killinger. It's a surprise and it could mean wild, weird things.

Update [2008-9-9 13:40:44 by dlaw]:And, as suspected, WaMu has signed a "Memorandum of Understanding" with the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS).

Update [2008-9-11 22:43:59 by dlaw]: Moody's, the ratings service has cut Washington Mutual senior unsecured debt rating to "junk" - down two of the service's ratings grades from "Baaa3" to "Ba2 with negative outlook". The impact of this re-rating is unclear, but if it has the effect of reducing the value of the assets WaMu holds as capital, there could be trouble. I find the severity of this downgrade very surprising.

(9 comments, 1784 words in story) Full Story

"Watcha Doin', Barney Frank?"... "Aww, Nothin', Just Savin' The World."

You may not have noticed, because the Congressman is a modest man, but today Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson announced that brilliant, gay, cute li'l Representative Barney Frank (D-MA), had saved the world.

Aww, that's sweet. Look at Barney keeping the world's financial system out of the clutches of right-wing maniacs. Looks like he's about to give Paulson a big kiss, doesn't it? And Paulson almost deserves it today - and not just for showing that John McCain is a tragi-comic liar. After all, how hard is that?

(4 comments, 1381 words in story) Full Story

Palin Calls The Democrats Out.

I'm watching Palin right now.

She's doing extremely well, falling back on the Republicans' core rhetorical competency. She's sharp and glib and looks good on camera.

As for the speech itself, she's doing the only dance the Republicans can do - Limbaugh Low. She's a country music Anne Coulter. She's a hick Sean Hannity in hair extensions. She's Bill O'Reilly in a bra.

(3 comments, 269 words in story) Full Story

Seattle Biker Cop Shoots Hell's Angel At Sturgis Rally?

An off-duty Seattle police officer and apparent member of the "Iron Pigs MC" motorcycle club (I'll have more on them in the comments) appears to have been the first person in almost 20 years to commit a shooting in Sturgis, SD during the biker Rally. Read the Post-Intelligencer story here

The police chief of Sturgis, Jim Bush, was interviewed on KIRO and I found it ironic. I actually interviewed him after the Seattle police caused the WTO debacle.

He was not a fan of their methods.

(3 comments, 759 words in story) Full Story

Why Light Rail Ain't Gonna Happen - Vote or No Vote.

First, I'll admit that I think it shouldn't, but forget the fact that it's bad transportation policy that needs to be re-thought at least twice more.

Forget the fact that nobody on Earth has ever explained nor can ever explain to me why people think this is still the 19th century and thus we have to run mass transit stock with steel wheels on steel rails rather than rubber wheels on cement.

The fight is over before it has begun, arguments are moot and policy debate is pointless. Remember the Monorail? Well, the financial antics of the Washington Mutuals of the world have, in essence, turned Sound Transit's light rail into the Monorail. So you can vote for all the "Sound Transit 2" you want - that light rail just ain't gonna happen.

(6 comments, 1653 words in story) Full Story

IndyMac : Whodunnit???

For God's sake, let us sit upon the ground/
And tell sad stories of the death of Kings

"The Life and Death of King Richard II",
William Shakespeare

This is a developing story, so view it as incomplete and soon to be updated.

The question is whether Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) caused IndyMac bank's failure or whether it was inevitable and Sen. Schumer might have given people much-needed information of a regulatory failure - albeit a little recklessly.

(2 comments, 414 words in story) Full Story

Washington Mutual: "It's A Wonderful Life!" Here In Washington - At Least It Was Until July 22nd

[Front Paged:AR]

After being terribly alarmed by the numbers earlier in the year, I have been tremendously impressed by the way  troubled banks have been able to sell HUGE amounts of stock - screwing present shareholders but possibly saving the financial system for all the decent people. ;-)

Unfortunately, I have to say "possibly" because of two agencies, two banks and the last three lines of one article.

The agencies are called Fannie and Freddie. One of the banks is called Indymac and the other is WaMu. What follows are the last three lines of that article, and a tale of a life that was wonderful and now,...maybe,...not. Ask not for whom the bell tolls because it's not an angel named "Clarence".

(9 comments, 2700 words in story) Full Story

Booth Gardner and Initiative 1000 - Sad HMO Dupes???

[Front paged: NM]

I heard Booth Gardner and his merry band on the radio cheering their "victory" at having secured the signatures for Initiative 1000. It is bad law - poorly informed, short-sighted and the political tool of HMOs.

But even if they can't see the ethical problems with it, the sponsors of this Initiative are intelligent Democrats of great political experience. Therefore, it should be patently obvious to them that the more signatures they got for it - the more popular it is - the more surely Initiative 1000 should be retracted and a bill from the legislature put in its place. Otherwise, it will be a bad law AND a political failure.

Here's why:

(31 comments, 877 words in story) Full Story

My Racial Joke

Don Imus was at it again it seems. He is trying to say that he wasn't - that in fact he was being a good, knee-jerk mirror-image of his former self.

At some point isn't it time for somebody to just shut the hell up altogether?

It's a question people have asked about me I'm sure and I about myself. But I think I may still have to tell my one race joke - for the moment.

(4 comments, 1086 words in story) Full Story

NY Times: President Bush Is Winning Iraq War. - Updated

I know! I didn't think it was possible either! But then the NYT told me so this morning! Cool, right?

Just look at the picture!!! The surge has worked! Kids are in playgrounds! Soon there will be victory, baby! It'll be just like in Afghanistan! That victory was AWESOME, dude! Remember that?

Strangely, the Times doesn't.

(6 comments, 813 words in story) Full Story

On What Obama Should Say, Or "I Don't Believe You."

This campaign can still be lost.

Because the Iraq War can still be won.

(3 comments, 851 words in story) Full Story

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ROSSI'S BIGGEST CONTRIBUTOR
Skims $ Millions
from workers comp to attack Gregoire

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