Thursday, November 20, 2008

Paulson Speaks from Treasury's Rear Window


Hitchcock like fear is back in a big way on Wall Street. The flight to safety reached the stratosphere as people flocked to low yield Treasury bills. The Dow Industrials tanked 444 points, imploding to levels not seen since Bill Clinton's second term.

Most of the deterioration occurred after Treasury Chief Hank Paulson spoke from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Market stress clearly continues after $4.28 trillion in federal interventions. Credit default swaps for Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway reached 500. In other words, people are thinking the previously unthinkable. Systemic risk is baaack.

The big money boys still don't trust each other to make good on their debts. Crisis remains on the table. That means more taxpayer funded Corporafornication. It's amazing what they can get away with, especially when the public is scared.