Market crash: are we there yet ?

[chucklesR]

Originally Posted by PBzeer

Chuck - this is the only Sarbanes-Oxley that I'm aware of, and that was in 2002, with a GOP Congress.
Sarbanes-Oxley Act - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Also, as an aside, as recently as July of this year, Dodd said there is no cause for concern for Fanny and Freddie.

I looked at every single piece of paper Sarbanes pushed in 2005, nothing on oversight of financials, Dodd's packing crap again -

Of course Dodd said that, he's firmly in the pocket of Fanny and Freddie's CEO's - he should have to resign as chairman due to conflict of ethic's - unfortunately that's true for about 99.9999999 percent of Congress, so they write the laws to say they have no conflict.

[sailhog]

At least Ben Stein has the heart to admit he missed it:

http://finance.yahoo.com/expert/article/yourlife/109609

[wind_magic]

Originally Posted by sailhog

At least Ben Stein has the heart to admit he missed it

That's because Ben Stein rocks like Stonehenge.

[sailhog]

Originally Posted by wind_magic

That's because Ben Stein rocks like Stonehenge.

Reversals like this are what I find so worrisome. When the experts -- who were formerly so cocksure of themselves -- suddenly announce that they missed the all-consuming "blackhole" dimension to all of this, that's when I sense that things are out of control.

What I find even more distressing is that he opens his essay by saying that this is not the beginning of the Great Depression, that the sky is not falling. He then goes on to say that he missed this one giant detail that could sink us. Finally, at the tail end of the essay, he says: "We are in real peril."

What he's trying to say is that people who think this could be a new great depression are alarmists. He himself is not an alarmist, but that's only because he screwed up by overlooking the very thing (CDSs) that now warrants alarm.

Thank you, Ben Stein.

[sailhog]

Those editing hash marks are from my term "****-sure." Didn't want you all to think I wasn't minding my language.

[sailhog]

Maybe it won't edit if I eliminate the hyphen. Let's see... cocksure...

[PBzeer]

While I don't reject the possibility of a Depression, I think it overlooks the fact that economic circumstances are much different today than in the '30's.

[sailhog]

John,
I think you're right... but I would add that we now have financial products like Credit Default Swaps that they didn't have then. That is, we have new ways to avoid a depression, and new ways of getting ourselves into one.

[wind_magic]

Nice movement in the market again today. VIX climbed into the mid-30's, and they traded the S&P down to the high 1180's. If they get it down below 1170 I'll be happy again. I'm afraid they might not get it down there, but then again there is a lot of fear out there, so maybe they will.

I'd love to see them sell it to the 1160's or 1170's for the close, but I'm probably not that lucky.

[chucklesR]

I like Ben, he thinks on the same line I do so no doubt why I like him.

I do, however, want to know how a Credit Default Swap can be labeled a financial product - it's a Las Vegas style gamble.