Not what I needed to hear

CJR's Ryan Chittum is at it again, wailing on the Wall Street apologists who blame Freddie/Fannie.

He also spotted this nice bit of info - which explains how AIG could screw themselves so effectively:

60 Minutes had a good segment Sunday on what they are, how they got out of hand, and why they’re the damage multiplier in the financial crisis. The piece gets at something I’ve been wondering about CDS:

“The problem was that if it were insurance, or called what it really is, the person who sold the policy would have to have capital reserves to be able to pay in the case the insurance was called upon or triggered. But because it was a swap, and not insurance, there was no requirement that adequate capital reserves be put to the side.”

and this cheerful bit of news:

The Washington Post has a good story on page one today, warning of something that sounds very much like depression to me and saying that $700 billion may not be near enough...

[snip]

The Journal says up next to choke the economy is credit cards. Consumers are increasingly late on payments and the paper says credit lines are about to be tightened.

Cap that off with Ben Bernanke telling us all this will be a very bad 4th quarter while the markets are still open and you have the makings of a very bad end of the year.