Bill Rempel, a.k.a. NO DooDahs!

If that’s not a frickin’ bell,

Then it’s the end of the world.

Who died today? SOMEbody passed into the great beyond today - you just don’t get selling that large and that desperate without margin calls. The only question is who?

I know the recent market volatility seems like “the worst ever” - but it still ain’t. Updated numbers for the year just past - 1.61% standard deviation on the S&P 500, and 16.27% of days with moves of 2% or more. Neither of those are as bad as 1998 or 2003, and none […]

Somewhat appropriate, considering everything. Very well done and enjoyable!
Two minor quibbles come to mind …
1) Most of the Austrians tend towards using MZM or M2 as their definition of “money,” and this doesn’t capture credit impacts - and credit IS money.
2) Theoretically there could be monetary contraction even with rapid expansion […]

Here’s a stupid regulatory idea: regulate credit default swaps (CDS) as “insurance” if the purchaser owns the underlying security. This is the “brainchild” of NY Governor David Paterson.
The first obvious problem is that, as a tradable instrument, CDS are categorically different from, oh, I don’t know, a financial guaranty (FG) policy. Not to […]