He bought it.

Obama now owns the problems of GM and the auto industry. By forcing out the GM CEO, Obama now becomes the face of the auto industry and will be perceived by the public as its savior or its destroyer. Politically, this seems to be an error, but I suppose he needs a CEO scalp to wave when the US provides DIP* financing for the auto industry. [*DIP means debtor in possession financing in bankruptcy, which is super-senior before all other creditors.]

Timmy Geitner blabs again about banks needing capital, without specifics. Why does he do this ? More and more, he is showing himself to be a minor league player in the "Show". The bears are attacking this morning with all markets down sharply, thanks to Timmy. Hello Timmy ... shut up until you have something clear to say and do.

Personally, I'm happy to see a pullback. My sales in Obama Fund combined with the new money in April mean I can re-load and add at lower prices.

French newspapers have much talk about new restrictions on executive pay. Over the weekend, I commented to another that it seems the left was right when complaining over the past 15 years that executive pay compared to the pay of the average worker was out of line. We now see that such executive pay was wasted and did not conduce lasting value. Shareholders and Boards of Directors really blew it in paying these guys so much while stock prices were rising, as many were taking excessive risks and inflating stock prices with buybacks, tax tricks, etc., when business growth and debt paydown would made been correct behavior.

[ Did you notice that 'clever' contraPUNtal expression - the "left was right" ? ]

G20 b***s*** [that's 'connerie' in French] is all over the news. Ugh ... this reminds me of Davos: the godlike government leaders to be our saviors.

That reminds me - a friend mentioned a link to a South Park episode which is so hilarious, I was convulsing with laughter for 20 minutes. This is the same one which a loquacious commentor mentioned a few days ago in the comments. Here is a link to view it online.

http://www.xepisodes.com/episodes/1303/Margaritaville.html

Word of the Day

"Tacit" - adjective [$10]; an easy one from the files
Tacit means understood or implied without being stated.
Sentence: Bankrupcty restructuring for GM and Chrysler is the tacit message of the weekend's leaks about the auto industry. This is no surprise to anyone who is realistic about the industry and companies.

Le Mot du Jour

"Encadrer" - verb, regular -er conjugation.
Encadrer means 1. to frame; 2. to train and supervise, to restrict, to take in hand; to frame, to surround.
La Phrase: Nouvelle conduite par les actionnaires devrait encadrer les rémunérations des diregeants des entreprises. S'ils n'est pas stupides.
Sentence: New supervision by shareholders should restrict the remuneration of executives of companies. If they aren't stupid.