I TOLD you so

Holy effing ess ... and wtf and shiteballs ...

I TOLD everyone NOT to make Greenspan a scapegoat for the collective financial screw ups of the entire planet. But no sooner than I had called off my blog strike, the useless pieces of Washington garbage (who I pay for!) showed they have as little self-discipline as they have personal integrity and leadership skills. Thank God they're now in charge of EVERYthing. This is going to be awesome.

Not.

Also up on the Hill, a bunch of hedge fund demi-gods plead powerlessness over the mess. "The system" did it? I always knew Soros was a little off ... but that's as idiotic as letting a murderer walk because "it was the gun that killed the victim."

Another hedge fund fly-boy, Bill Ackman, was on Charlie Rose echoing the hew HF refrain pegging it all on the short selling
ban and the ratings agencies.

Everyone apparently fails to notice that capitalism actually worked in this case ... if a bit messy. These agencies are in the information analysis biz. As people have learned that these agencies performed flawed analysis and turned out crap information, people have stopped trusting them and are no longer willing to pay for their services. They will likely find themselves in an Arthur Anderson situation before too long.

In other news, Paulson is still motoring without a rudder, map, or compass. Good things will not come of his mess. Did anyone else catch him borrowing an odd quote from Keynes?

Paulson, this week: “I will never apologize for changing an approach or strategy when the facts change"

Keynes: "When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?"
(nb: there is debate about whether Keynes even said this confidence-killing line)

Appropriately, HSBC is furious. Per CEO Michael Geoghegan:

"There is no question that guarantees have been given to failed managements ...
I hope these guarantees don’t last too long because they may create the wrong
type of behaviour by managements in those banks."

That's British for "get out of the market, you dumb clots, before you sink us all!" After weathering the storm relatively unscathed, HSBC now finds itself not at a competitive advantage (as it should be) but again at a disadvantage to the reckless, who have been lavished with bail-outs and governmental support based solely on perceived need ... as opposed to more logical criteria such as prudence, ability, and track record. The message: risk management is a fool's game. Damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead ... we'll just jump ship when we get sunk ... let the nanny government take care of the rest.

Perversely, it seems that there is a segment of the Left which salivates at the idea of the above, seeing it as a golden opportunity to sink their unproductive talons into deeper into industry...

... Evidence the panic to bail out the auto industry so it can continue to lose $1,000 on every car it sells; so it can spend multiples more on pensions than on R&D; so it can choose to continue to avoid issues with its products and business models which have existed for the last 30 years.

... Evidence Michael Beschloss (big chicken who donated to Obama only in his wife's name so people wouldn't realize how biased his new books are) on Charlie Rose on the 7th casually dropping lines like:

"Government being involved in the economy in a very draconian way, picking winners and losers... It's Obama's job to explain that ... we're not just doing this as a momentary effort to fix a problem. Maybe this shows us that government should be more involved in the economy than people have expected over the last couple of decades."

Yes, indeed, we'll have to dumb it down and spin it and wrap it in charismatic bullshit for the little people who aren't political hacks ... because saying these things outright obviates their fallacy. History will show them fools.