No to the Detroit bail-out

David Brooks has a powerful column in the New York Times today arguing against the proposed bail-out of the auto industry. Here are his key points:

This is a different sort of endeavor than the $750 billion bailout of Wall Street. That money was used to save the financial system itself. It was used to save the capital markets on which the process of creative destruction depends.

Granting immortality to Detroit’s Big Three does not enhance creative destruction. It retards it. It crosses a line, a bright line. It is not about saving a system; there will still

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I like this

It's always terribly gratifying when someone much cleverer than yourself supports some view that you've been espousing.

Longstanding critics of the industry claim vindication. Peter Morici, professor of business at the University of Maryland, says hedge funds originated in a lucrative niche that has simply become too crowded.

"There were some very smart guys who would find seams in the market - inconsistencies in pricing on different markets," says Morici. "But if a lot of people do it, they end up competing against each other for very small opportunities. The concept of a hedge fund was simply not...

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Why I don't read Hansard

Or more accurately, why I don't read Hansard very often. It's simply not good for my blood pressure to come across ideas quite as fatuous as this one:

That leave be given to bring in a Bill to make provision for a maximum limit for interest rates to be prescribed; and for connected purposes.......My Bill would limit the interest charges at a fixed rate above the base rate set by the Bank of England. I believe that a fair rate would be 5 per cent. above the base rate.

So the maximum interest rate that could be charged would...

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Unemployment hits 1.82 million

As expected, unemployment for the three months to September has risen above the 1.8 million mark.  The figures just released by the Office for National Statistics put it at 1.82 million - the highest level for 11 years.  The expectation now - as Ken Clarke says - is that it will rise steeply in the New Year, as the recession bites deeper and companies undertake post-Christmas lay-offs.

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The worst of the markets

Ever wondered which of the world’s stock markets has fared the worst during the recent financial turmoil? Thanks to Stan Secrieru wonder no more. The winner is Russia (cue sounds of Russian national anthem). Helped by a brutal war, market-rattling commentary by Prime Minister Putin and a belligerent state-of-the-union address by President Medvedev, Russia’s RTS fell by 68 percent.

A close second is China, whose dollar-packed treasury can do little to keep up China’s economic growth if Western demand slumps. Beijing’s leaders can take comfort in Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index, which “only” saw a 49% drop.

In...

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