Here is yet another in the steady stream of offensives in Alan Greenspan's War on Reality/Save the Legacy campaign. In this current thrust, the Oracle states yet again(with great authority for the friendliest of traditional media organs, The Wall Street Journal), "It wasn't my fault!  It was those guys over there."  

After the break, a few thoughts on why his revisionism and quest to preserve his legacy should not be left unchallenged.  I don't plan on going into too many technical issues so your eyes don't glaze over...

In a terrific piece that has gotten a fair bit of attention in the financial press, but received little mention outside those circles, Bill Gross, the bond market guru at PIMCO (the top bond investment manager) tells us in plain terms about the very knotty trillion dollar problem that may not be fixed "till the cows come home".  We kinda knew that it was worse than we thought but, Mr. Gross thinks that our policy makers in Washington have come up with a proposal that will work and one I think Kossacks should support.  

The presription is not going to taste good, and there will continue to be a great human toll, but I too think the patient will survive if we support current initiatives.

With out of control gas prices and the mercury here hovering in the 90s maxing out the grid, I think it's a good time to reflect on a huge, thriving race event that's being staged in Chicago for the 100th time. It employs clean, renewable energy to thrill and entertain tens of thousands. I think that this event also indirectly celebrates the Great Lakes Water Compact, signed by the eight Great Lakes states, which is headed to Washington this year to try to win Congressional consent.  
http://www.marketwatch.com/...

Clean fun follows below the fold...

This is a big deal.  Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson are telling Congress in testimony today that they want and need emergency authority (now) geared toward eventual universal regulation of U.S. financial markets, including Banks, Bank Holding Companies, Investment Banks, Large Insurance Companies, Payment Systems, and others. More below:

I generally dislike celebrity endorsements of anything, especially candidates, but seeing that this is more comment than endorsement, I'm going to make an exception here and diary it.  If it's redundant, please holler and I'll delete it.

My friends, Bob Dylan has boarded the train.

Younger Kossacks, through no fault of their own, may not be able to share the same warm feeling that this story brings to a few of us aged tube navigators.  But everyone ought to enjoy this one on some level.
Wisdom from the Jack of Hearts below...  

I read the story of the emir of Qatar's visit to the Big Easy in today's N.Y. Times and I couldn't help but feel a bit queasy about it. No. That's not the right word. Wistful. That's a better word.

The emir made a very generous donation of $100,000,000 dollars to help rebuild the gulf coast and New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Several large institutions and many individuals are very grateful for his gift. Along with his daughter, a recent Duke grad, the emir wanted to see how things were coming along. More after the break...  

Mr. El Erian is Mohamed El-Erian, one of the top investment managers in the world.  Mr. El-Erian, a French citizen, in spite of sitting for his interview and passing the required english, history, and civics tests, has had his application for U.S. citizenship delayed for the last two years. It appears that he finally got fed up and joined 6,550 others who have had to resort to the courts to settle what, in my mind, should be a fairly routine bureaucratic process.

More on Mr. El Erian's suit against heckuva job Chertoff, et. al. after the break.

The Chicago Tribune is reporting that a witness in the Tony Rezko corruption trial is ready to testify under immunity that Rezko and others allegedly hatched a plot with Karl Rove through RNC operative Robert Kjellander to remove U. S. Attorney and Scooter Libby prosecutor Patick Fitzgerald.

The contentious debate about whether some aspect of the current recommended child vaccination schedule may trigger autism in some susceptible individuals or groups has just gone nuclear.  The detonator was a beautiful young 9 year old girl named Hannah Poling.

This diary attempts to look at recent events in the Poling case from the perspective of public policy rather than the scientific debate.

The media is all over the Sir Elton John "I never cease to be amazed by the misogynistic attitudes of some people in this country" comments at last night's Radio City Music Hall event in the heart of Hillary Clinton country.  

I don't find those comments as noteworthy as some others below:

"When I first ran across the sharp spike in subprime mortgage originations estimated by a private vendor (Note that the Fed didn't even track this data), which was later confirmed I said, 'This makes no sense. Markets don't move that fast.'" - Alan Greenspan to the Wall Street Journal April 8,2008

Uhh, yes they do. Thanks to you. More below...

The United Nations General Assembly has designated April 2nd as World Autism Awareness Day. This diary is about support, not causes or cures.  Let's leave that topic for another time. Thank you, U.N.
http://www.autismspeaks.org/...