Liberals and liberals

Peter Kellner would, I'm sure, describe himself as a thoroughly liberal sort of chap. I can't say that I would regard him as such though.

One of our most striking findings is that as many as 77% of the public would support a ban on smoking in cars carrying children under 18. Only 11% oppose this. For the great majority of people, the health of children outweighs the freedom of adults to do what they want in their own private space. Even among smokers, supporters of a ban outnumber opponents by almost two-to-one (48% support, 27% oppose).

As...

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OK, now I'm worried

I haven't been so far, not very much, but now I really am worried. My previous insouicance was pretty much based on a deep faith in markets working, despite their occasional hiccups, plus the thought that while there might need to be regulatory changes, those who would make such would know what they were doing.

I've still the faith in the markets but no longer really have much in the regulators. Take this:

That is clearly not the case:inter-bank loan rates are regularly higher than Libor, the official rate.

Now if that was said by some random politician or...

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Darling speeds up recapitalisation plans

Having finally caught onto what the banks want, it seems that Alistair Darling is going to dance to their tune and speed up plans for a recapitalisation package.  According to the Standard, around £50 billion could be pumped into the sector "within days".

Sure, the dither-o-meter has just receded a notch.  But now comes the separate question of whether recapitalisation is the right course of action.  Truth is, it could help stabilise the markets for the time being (they're currently plummeting on the back of banking losses).  But will the effect be anything other than temporary?  Can the public finances afford the hit?  Will future taxpayers be shielded from any undue burden?  I, for one, have my doubts.

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Dithering? Nah, couldn't be...

Yesterday, I suspected that Alistair Darling's obfuscating language meant that HMT didn't really have a clue about how to deal with the market turmoil. But the hope was that, behind the confused - and confusing - rhetoric, there lay substantive action.

It would seem not, if the reports of the Chancellor's meeting with bank officials last night are anything to go by. As Robert Peston outlined on Today this morning, the banks are said to have left infuriated by the lack of any clear plan from the Government. While HMT...

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Global Cardiac Arrest

John Burbank of Passport Capital appeared at the Value Investing Congress this morning. I'm getting inured to scary prognoses at this point, but he managed to scare me by saying that GE, which is having difficulty rolling over its paper, and which has 22 times as many assets as it has tangible equity, is "at great, great risk of going bankrupt".

"The global capital markets system has had a heart attack," said Burbank, "and the policymakers are prescribing exercise and vitamins." If they really want to unblock things, they'll need to try something much more drastic: Burbank was...

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