Loose Ends... Vol. XXXVI

I'm a day late with Loose Ends this week. I blame that on vacation. I'm frankly a bit behind on keeping up with the finer details of the news this past week - especially beyond the financial/economic world.

The G20 summit is set to begin later this week where world leaders will discuss the world's financial crisis. This will actually be pretty interesting to watch. The state of the U.S. Dollar as the world's reserve currency, international regulation, and the use of stimulus will all be potentially discussed.

We're coming off the heels of a few good weeks in the U.S. stock market. We'll see how that holds as we enter earnings season in several weeks. Between now and then, the market will move largely on political events or surprises from major banks.

Of course, today, we saw movement due in part to the U.S. auto industry. Obama and team have stated that the plans submitted by GM and Chrysler were not good enough. The administration put pressure on GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner leading to his resignation today.

So, I'm left with more frustration and anger... and unfortunately left struggling to find words tonight - (and increasingly more lately in general).

This is a great example of the dangers of a powerful state. Did Wagoner deserve to be fired? I think so. But, I don't own GM stock. I'm not on the Board of GM. My opinion doesn't matter for any more than that. Last I checked, the same goes for Obama and the federal government. Wagoner's departure is bittersweet in this regard. If my taxes are going to be given to GM in any shape or form, then I suppose I'm glad Wagoner is out. But, the cost is great as this puts the government's power on center stage. Where does it end?

Oh yeah... The Fed officially began its program of quantitative easing and the U.K. had a failed auction of the Gilt - U.K. sovereign debt. This means that the government attempted to auction off a specified volume of bonds (40 year maturity in this case) and there were not enough bidders in the auction to meet the supply.