Tony Hillerman RIP

This morning’s LA Times reports the death of mystery writer Tony Hillerman. For the uninitiated, Hillerman wrote about Navajo Tribal Police and the Navajo culture in a way that was enlightening, interesting and sympathetic. Good mysteries that were tied to the culture and land of the Navajo people.

Some writers can take genre material and make it relevant, enaging, insightful and amazing.  Hillerman was one of those.  Even if you aren’t a mystery fan, his books are worth the time. Really extraordinary writer.

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-hillerman28-2008oct28,0,5303995.story

Tony Hillerman, 83, dies; bestselling mystery author provided insight into the native people and culture of the Southwest

By Dennis McLellan
October 28, 2008

Bestselling author Tony Hillerman began writing his contemporary mystery novels set in the Navajo region of the Southwest, in part, he once said, because “they have a fascinating religious philosophy and a lot of good values.”

And, he told Newsweek magazine in 1989, “they’re the very bottom of the pecking order among Indian tribes out here. They’re the country bumpkins. And I’ve always identified with that.”

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The critically acclaimed author, whose mysteries featured two Navajo tribal policemen and were known for providing insight into the native people and culture of the Southwest, died Sunday. He was 83.

It’s Clear to me Now

The regulators, watchdogs, media, everyone but ordinary consumers and British comedians were watching the people in white shirts passing balls.

I really can’t find a better explanation.

Paul

Okay. The Brits ARE smarter than we are

Here’s proof.

Their comedians read financial markets better than our multi-million dollar stock brokers.

This is from more than a year ago:

http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/187.html/

But we didn’t see this coming?

Paul

Not wooden arrows, but something shot through Wall St.

The Dow posted a record one-day jump after European governments talked about their own bail-outs.

But we’re not out of the woods yet.

We’re only just getting the first inkling of what the Fed’s going to do to shore up the economy.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/14/business/economy/14treasury.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

U.S. Investing $250 Billion in Banks

By MARK LANDLER

Published: October 13, 2008

WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department, in its boldest move yet, is expected to announce a plan on Tuesday to invest up to $250 billion in banks, according to officials. The United States is also expected to guarantee new debt issued by banks for three years — a measure meant to encourage the banks to resume lending to one another and to customers, officials said.

Pablo Martinez Monsivais/Associated Press

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, left, talking with Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. after a dinner at the White House Monday.

Brendan Smialowski for The New York Times

John A. Thain, chairman of Merrill Lynch, leaving the Treasury Department on Monday.

And the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation will offer an unlimited guarantee on bank deposits in accounts that do not bear interest — typically those of businesses — bringing the United States in line with several European countries, which have adopted such blanket guarantees.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 936 points, or 11 percent, the largest single-day gain in the American stock market since the 1930s. The surge stretched around the globe: in Paris and Frankfurt, stocks had their biggest one-day gains ever, responding to news of similar multibillion-dollar rescue packages by the French and German governments.

In London, they’re almost gleeful something has been done and seems to be working, at least for today.

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article4938229.ece

October 14, 2008

Markets soar as the world acts to rescue banks

Suzy Jagger in New York, Francis Elliott and Gráinne Gilmore

Stock markets soared yesterday after governments committed trillions of dollars in an unprecedented attempt to prevent the collapse of the international financial system.

World shares made their biggest one-day advance for 19 years as countries across four continents detailed the extraordinary lengths to which they will go to bail out stricken banks.

France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, Finland, Sweden, Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, India, South Korea, Japan and Qatar all took measures to guarantee deposits or improve bank liquidity.

In America Hank Paulson, the Treasury Secretary, moved to implement British-style plans for the Administration to take a stake in ailing US banks. President Bush is expected to unveil firm plans today to use $250 billion of taxpayer funds to seize stakes in nine of America’s biggest banks as part of a move to stabilise the country’s banking system.

The co-ordinated international moves sparked the biggest single-day rally since the rebound after the Black Monday crash of October 1987. On Wall Street, the Dow Jones rose 936 points, or 11 per cent, its biggest one-day point gain and the biggest percentage rise since 1933. In London, the FTSE 100 closed up more than 8 per cent, its second-biggest daily percentage rise.

Hope some of the $250 billion gets to the people who are struggling to keep their shops open and their employees paid.

Paul

Wooden Arrows Will Save our Economy

I do admit that I am not at all sure if we’re saving the economy with a $700 billion bailout. From the stock market over the past two days, I think we’ve deluded ourselves if we think the government is the solution.

My favorite part of the bailout package is the provision protecting the wooden arrow industry. Now, maybe wooden arrows are important someplace. I can virtually GUARANTEE they are important to someone in the Senate who’s vote was important to pass the $700 billion bailout. But are we really serious that the national economy depends on wooden arrows?

Or, are wooden arrows an example of what’s exactly wrong with Congress in general and the Senate in particular?

Senate passes the bailout. House passes the bailout. President signs it post haste. The wooden arrow industry is saved, but the stock market tanks anyway.

I keep thinking the emphasis should be placed on the small businesses that make our economy run.  Why not find a way to use a big piece of that cash infusion to help restaurants, stores, manufacturers and enterprises that are working hard but find themselves strapped because of the financial mess? Put that money into the hands of people who will use it to grow their business and expand the economy.

Put the emphasis on success. Let the failures fail. Let the schemers suffer for the problems they created for themselves.

I do think something needs to be done for the people who might lose their homes, but why should we be saving the people, institutions and offices that created this mess. Right now it looks as if even the stock marketeers are thinking the same thing. Hence the big downtick.

Let’s invest in success. Support the people who work hard, don’t try to game the rules, and just want to make their businesses work.

That’s a pretty simple plan, it seems to me.

Paul