Here's an online petition that sends faxes to DC; also, a picoupdate.

[solarbird]

Okay, so, as laputain has correctly noted here, the Bush administration and its Treasury and Fed have gone on a socialism-for-billionaires binge. Actual free-marketeers are organising street protests against the bailouts here, and there's a petition here that generates faxes to US Senators and Representatives against all this bullshit.

Minyanville asks whether capitalism as we know it is dead, and the Financial Times says yes, in fact, it is. Bloomberg talks about the jump in US debt risk following the AIG demi-nationalisation/bailout. Brad Setser at the CFR tracks flight from "risky US assets" and describes how nobody wants to hold risk (US 35-day T-bills got in some cases negative-interest bids yesterday) and while I can't back it I'm hearing rumours about a near-freezeup in LIBOR interbank lending.

Last night, as two nights ago, the Fed was unable to defend its 2% target rate, tho' at least the standard deviation was lower than Monday night. This despite central bank and soverign fund intervention that Brad (lots from him the last couple of days - tracking money is his forté) describes as breathtaking.

Still, for today, it made the markets happy; the Dow regained most of yesterday's decline, the NASDAQ essentially all of its; the S&P did nicely too. A variety of market-makers have decided to blame it all on short-sellers, with Britain moving to ban short-selling of financial-sector stocks. That doesn't usually work out well. There are also a fleet of investigations being set up; maybe they'll pass a regulation saying you can't sell stock unless it's gone up!

Comments

[firni.livejournal.com]

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1151ap_bush_markets.html

Companies to buy stock in:

Makers of pitchforks
Makers of torches
Bus companies offering discount tickets to Washington DC.

[silussa.livejournal.com]

The SEC use to require an uptick before you could short a stock (http://tradermike.net/2007/07/short_sale_tick_test_rule_ends_thursday_july_5_2007/). Perhaps we'll see the return of that old rule.

[wrog]

not sure it matters

unless they're also planning to do away with single-stock futures

[solarbird]

Wasn't the old tick test just one tick anyway, which, post-decimalisation, meant a penny?

[oh6.livejournal.com]

I was surprised to see that another trading blogger I periodically check, who usually strictly concentrates on making money from the market, no matter what it may do, recently spoke out against bailouts as well. (http://www.thekirkreport.com/2008/09/bailouts-are-ba.html)