Who Were the Sea Peoples?

Over at Free Advice it has been All Paulson, All the Time. I thought it appropriate to spam you people with "The Great Bank Robbery of 2008." UPDATE: I break in on Bob's post! Yes, it's always possible for me to do so, but I feel justified this time because I'm doing it to praise him. Bob has written of the best one-liners in economics; now he pens another in the article linked above: "Some very sharp academic economists are in a tizzy trying to treat this as an extra-credit question, rather than a crime scene." -- Gene

Just when you thought it couldn't get worse, this note was sent to mortgage brokers from one of the biggest players remaining in the Florida market. Effective tomorrow 10/1, we will no longer offer financing on the following transactions in Florida: Second Homes Condominiums regardless of occupancy Investment Properties LTVs greater than 90% Borrowers with credit scores below 660 regardless of automated decision Max DTI allowed 45% regardless of automated decision I'm glad nobody has yet countered any of my lowball offers. They will regret it.

For many years, I have tried to warn motorists on the other side of a highway that there is a speed trap ahead of them. After I pass a cop lying in ambush, I wait a few moments (to catch people before it's too late for them) and then do a quick flash-flash with my lights. Do people get what I'm doing there, or would you, dear reader, assume I was telling somebody to turn on his lights? Also, I wondered about the ethics of it. I think you could tell a plausible story where motorists announcing the presence of the cop, in effect just magnifies his effectiveness. I.e. if you did a huge model that had the police and motorists, and could show the different results from plugging in different strategies, then I think you could calibrate the payoffs such that everybody is happier when a certain fraction of motorists consistently warn others of a cop. It would be giving the police the option of deputizes a thousand citizens, as it were, to crack down on speeding, but the hitch is t...

The Hartford Courant explains why the lady UConn Huskies didn't win it all last year: "During UConn's run to the Final Four, [head coach] Auriemma tinkered with his post..." Well, if you're going for the national championship, and the coach is off "tinkering with his post"... well, no wonder!

My wife was cracking up and I needed to see what it was. It's pretty good.

Thomas Sowell writes : "Financial institutions are not being bailed out as a favor to them or their stockholders..." "The real point is to avoid a major contraction of credit that could cause major downturns in output and employment, ruining millions of people, far beyond the financial institutions involved. If it was just a question of the financial institutions themselves, they could be left to sink or swim. But it is not." "But bailing out people who made ill-advised mortgages makes no more sense that bailing out people who lost their life savings in Las Vegas casinos." OK, Tommy baby (I now treat him with such disrespect as he has shown himself to be a mere pitchman for banking interests), how about this: That $700 billion could completely pay off about 3.5 million $200,000 mortgages. If the Treasury gave people in risk of foreclosure that money, those people would keep their homes (yes, yes, the money would need to be in the form of coupons only good ...