With a name like Tucker, he’s got to be rude.

From Crooks & Liars:

Seriously, is there anyone more annoying than Tucker Carlson? The least self-aware pundit on TV, still nursing his own bruised ego from the thorough spanking he received at the hands of a comedian that took down his show, cried that Jon Stewart is nothing more than a partisan hack in “attacking” Jim Cramer. Mr. “I’m an ideologue, not a partisan” repeats the favorite GOP meme that Cramer was only attacked because he dared to criticize Obama’s budget. Hmm … repeating GOP talking points … but Carlson’s not speaking on behalf of his party, no sirree.

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Madoff Made Off With Everyone’s Dough

Dec. 17 (Bloomberg) — U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox said the agency failed to act for almost a decade on “credible and specific allegations” of wrongdoing by Bernard Madoff, who authorities say bilked investors of as much as $50 billion.

Allegations dating back until at least 1999 “were repeatedly brought to the attention of SEC staff, but were never recommended to the commission for action,” Cox, 56, said in a statement yesterday. He announced an internal probe to review the “deeply troubling” revelations.

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Obama-nomics

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President-elect Barack Obama has chosen seasoned policymakers Timothy Geithner and Lawrence Summers as his two top economic lieutenants to direct the fight to rescue the economy and stem the worst financial crisis in more than 70 years.

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Oh Henry!

From Barron’s:

BABY, IT’S COLD OUT THERE. So let’s toss another billion on the fire.

What’s that make it? Well, let’s see: $29 billion for Bear Stearns, somewhere between $1 billion and $100 billion each for Fannie and Freddie (a nice narrow range), $85 billion for AIG, a couple of hundred billion to keep stray banks, brokers and their errant kin from asphyxiating themselves by swallowing toxic paper. And then there’s the proposed reincarnation of the Resolution Trust Corp., which all by itself may mean shelling out $800 billion, perhaps even as much as $1 trillion.

While we’re at it, we might as well include the $400 billion with which the Paulson-Bernanke grand plan envisages endowing the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. so it can insure money-market funds.

But, please, understand those mind-boggling sums in no way, shape or form are to be construed as designed to aid and abet a bailout. Instead, they are merely the essential ingredients of an “intervention,” or, if you prefer, a “rescue” — just about anything, in other words, that’s semantically sweeter than bailout, with its ugly connotation of a sinking ship.

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McCainomics 101

From Consortium News:

John McCain has been purging lobbyists from his campaign trying to reclaim the mantle of political reformer, but there’s one lobbyist whose role as a key economic adviser makes him almost untouchable despite ties to the sub-prime debacle, links to the Enron disaster and alleged evasion of ethics rules.

Former Sen. Phil Gramm, who was listed as a lobbyist for banking giant UBS as recently as December 2007, has emerged as what Fortune magazine calls “McCain’s econ brain,” filling McCain’s acknowledged void on economic expertise (“I don’t know as much about the economy as I should”).

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Parental Frights

MILWAUKEE (AP)…Taking shelter with parents isn’t uncommon for young people in their 20s, especially when the job market is poor. But now the slumping economy and the credit crunch are forcing some children to do so later in life — even in middle age.

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Fizzly Bear

From The Swamp at the Baltimore Sun:

President Bush said some very nice things about the Federal Reserve’s rescue, once removed, of Bear Stearns, the wobbly investment bank.

“… We’ve taken strong and decisive action,” Bush said. “The Federal Reserve has moved quickly to bring order to financial markets. Secretary (Henry) Paulson is supportive of that action, as am I,” said Bush, referring to the Treasury Secretary.

Not everyone is joining Bush in singing the Fed’s praises. Some say the central bank’s actions violate notions of fairness. Why is a large investment bank rescued while homeowners are left to the rough justice of foreclosure and bankruptcy?

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